A Work in Progress
by Vampyre Heartbreak
Summary: IchiHime, RenRuki! "House burned down- check. Currently homeless- check. Bumming out at the Kurosakis' house for a few days- check. Making Ichigo realize his undying love for her- ... Er, not check, a work in progress."
1. Iris

I am a very bad person.

I should not be working on this story when I already have two other uncompleted persons.

But its not my fault! This stupid plot bunny invaded my mind and WOULD NOT LEAVE! How was I to compete with that? Especially since my luffly beta said she liked it and I was like, "Darn! Now I must post it!"

Which is how I wound up here. For all those who are new to me: I do not currently posses a computer to which I have regular access. Instead, I am writing my stories down on paper and then typing them on my school computers whenever I have a change and then sending them to my beta the next time I have access to my email. So my updating will be seriously sketchy. But, if I get plenty of reviews, I'll see if there's anything else I can do. -wiggles eyebrows suggestively-

Oh, and this is my first ever _Bleach _fanfic, and therefore am unused to these characters. I did my best to keep them (more specifically Ichigo, he was the hasslesome one) IC, but let me know if I did not succeed. Thanks!

* * *

Narrowed brown eyes stared morosely up at the gray sky from under the shelter of his umbrella; a tanned, calloused hand grasped two heavily stocked grocery bags with ease. It was almost as if the sky was taunting Ichigo, reminding him that things were not alright with his nakama after they had returned with Inoue safely rescued.

The thought of the recently recovered female made Ichigo's characteristic frown deepen even more. Orihime had been exceedingly quiet ever since their return from Hueco Mundo. Even Tatsuki hadn't been able to shake her out of her funk, and they had been back a little over a month. Ishida had all but disappeared, while Chad was even more of a mute than normal.

Only Rengi, Ikkaku, and Yumichika had decided to stay behind, just in case any stray Arrancars appeared. Hitsugaya, Rangiku, and Rukia had been forced to return to the Soul Society shortly after their return, though the Kuchiki was going to try and get back soon. They were all still bumming out at their respective homes, though Ichigo's dad was now asking where his "third daughter" had gone and when she would return. This would usually result in Isshin claiming loudly that Ichigo must have driven her away, resulting in a punch, knocking him out.

Seeing a flash of dusky orange out of the corner of his eye, the man paused and looked over, only to see the bent-over, soaked form of the girl who had been plaguing his thoughts for days now. "Inoue?" He confirmed needlessly, walking over. The curvy girl jumped violently with a loud squeak. She spun a little to look at him with wide grey eyes. An umbrella was held in one hand, suspended over an uncovered box on the ground. In her other hand, a few grocery bags were wrapped around her wrist. A dark blue backpack was on her back. "What're you doing out here? You're soaked."

"Oh! Um, Kurosaki-kun! Konbanwa!" Orihime greeted, flicking a strand of her stringy, soaked hair out of her face with an index finger. Were her clothes dirty? The powerful Shinigami squinted his eyes and easily realized that her clothes looked streaked and rather ashy. The curvy girl also looked noticeably more cheerful than she had the last several times he had seen her. She looked more like the Inoue he knew.

"What happened to you?" Ichigo asked, wordlessly shifting his umbrella to hover over Orihime. She smiled gratefully up at him.

"My apartment burnt down!" She answered cheerfully. Ichigo stared at her blankly for a few seconds before shaking his head slightly.

"Burnt down, as in "to the ground"?" He clarified incredulously. Orihime hummed an affirmative, smiling broadly. "Did you leave the burner on or something?"

Orihime laughed. "It was actually one of my older neighbors. By the time I got there, the fire was out, and they allowed me to scavenge what I could. I was able to retrieve my picture of Sora, though Enraku is a little singed. I'm hoping Ishida-kun can fix him for me."

Ichigo remained silent. He was inwardly surprised that Inoue wasn't the cause of her house being burned down. The poor girl was so forgetful; she would start daydreaming about something and forget all about whatever food she would have been cooking. According to Tatsuki, it had happened once before, and Inoue's brother had had to buy new curtains as a result.

"So, where are you staying?"

"I was originally going to stay with Tatsuki-chan, but I'd forgotten that she had left for that vacation with her family yesterday, so that's out. I don't have enough for a motel, but now that I've found Puppy-chan, I'll stay with her!" Orihime brightened at the mention of her newfound friend.

… Puppy-chan?

Oh, she must have found a puppy. That's what she had been holding her umbrella over. Ichigo glanced down at the soggy box at Orihime's feet just in time to see a damp, mouse-grey puppy face poke out over the edge in curiosity. "You can't stay out here. It's going to be raining until tomorrow afternoon, and we have school tomorrow."

"I'll find a box for us to use as cover. If the homeless can do it, we can do it!" The petite girl's face lit up at the expectation of a challenge. "I've already bought food. I should be fine for the night." She slightly lifted up the arm supporting the grocery bags with difficulty, as if to prove her point.

It was clear that Orihime wasn't going to leave the puppy, which didn't surprise the Kurosaki a bit. He shoved his umbrella at her brusquely. "Here." Inoue's grey eyes crossed to look at the umbrella that had been shoved unceremoniously into her face. "Take it for a moment. And give me your bags. You two can bum out at my place for tonight." He relieved her of her bags, and she accepted his umbrella, closing her smaller one and looping it around her wrist.

Next, she picked up the puppy and held it close to her chest. She held the umbrella over Kurosaki-kun's head. "Won't your dad mind? Or your sisters? I don't want to put anyone out." Inoue asked worriedly.

Having situated the extra baggage on his wrists, Ichigo started walking down the street to his house. "Nah. If my dad believes Rukia's half-assed story, he'll let you stay."

"Oh, alright," Orihime bit her lower lip, but didn't say anything else as she pressed the whimpering, shivering puppy closer, "Thank you, Kurosaki-kun." She added on shyly after a moment of silence.

"Yeah, yeah."

* * *

"_Ichigooooo_!" His dad's bellow was clearly heard as Isshin proceeded to try and slam his elbow into his only son's skull. The orange-haired man caught the protruding joint and their daily ritual began.

"You're getting good, boy!"

"Shut up! Why do you have to do this when we have company!?"

"Company?" His father paused in attempting to lock his son into a half-nelson. Isshin looked past Ichigo to examine the petite, utterly flabbergasted girl still standing in the rain. "Orihime-chan?"

"Kon-Konbanwa, Kurosaki-san." Inoue greeted timidly.

"Well, what are you still doing out in the rain? Come in, come in!" Under Isshin's insistent herding, Orihime stepped into the warmth of the Kurosaki household and promptly slipped off her shoes. As she stood there, a puddle of rainwater quickly formed at her feet from the water dripping off of her skirt.

"What are you doing out here on this fine, fine day?" The elder Kurosaki asked brightly.

"Inoue's spending the night. Move." Ichigo saved her from answering as he gave his father a brusque, literal kick in the rear to get him to move out of the way.

"Oh? Well, you're more than welcome here, Orihime-chan! Ichigo should have told me you were coming, but the more, the merrier!"

By now thoroughly ignoring his father, Ichigo turned to Orihime. "You'll probably want to change before you get sick. Were you able to get any clothes?"

The dusky-haired girl brightened. "Yes! I had clothes that were at the dry cleaners, so they are successfully un-burnt!" She deflated slightly. "Though they probably got wet from the rain."

"That's what you get for standing in the rain. How long were you out there anyways?" Ichigo responded as he walked towards the kitchen.

"Um, I'm not sure. Forty-five minutes, maybe?" Inoue answered, busy staring at Ichigo's father, who had gone to weep about his mean children, and then something about puberty, to a life-size picture of a beautiful, smiling woman.

"Ignore him. He's always like that." An unexpected voice came from behind the curvy beauty, successfully startling her and causing her to jump. Orihime turned slightly, and saw the familiar figure with short, black hair.

"Karin-san. You startled me." The Shunshun Rikka-user smiled slightly.

"Sorry. Is Ichi-nii back?" Orihime gestured to the kitchen quietly.

"Thanks. Cute puppy, by the way." Karin tromped into the kitchen and reappeared seconds later with a bag of cookies. While she waited for a hint of what to do next, Orihime examined the puppy in her arms more thoroughly. It, or rather she, had a cute button, puppy face and slick, mouse-grey fur with a single, white splotch on her chest. Her long, whip-like tail began wagging as the puppy yipped excitedly.

Orihime's heart melted.

"You could have sat down." She looked up to see Ichigo with a towel around his neck and fresh clothes on. In his hands was another towel and some more clothes. He handed them over to her. "Here. Wear these until some of your clothes are dry." She put down the puppy, who immediately started to explore the room with shrill yaps, and accepted the clothes before following his directions down the hallway to change.

After hanging her clothes up to dry, Orihime padded down the hallway as she rubbed her now-damp hair with the towel. Ichigo's clothes were way too big on her, and she kept having to pull the boxers up higher on her hips. The clothes smelled like Kurosaki-kun, she noticed dreamily. The smell was smoky, with just enough of a hint of mint to still seem masculine. The clothes smelled of a more condensed version of how his room smelled, which she still remembered clearly.

She paused at the entrance to the living room and had to giggle at the sight that greeted her. Her crush had several newspapers on the floor and was currently telling her new puppy in his scariest voice, "You go here, got it?" The puppy instead ignored his order and decided that Ichigo's pointed index finger made a great chew toy. Ichigo looked rather nonplussed by the action, and the look on his face made her giggle, which she attempted to hide by snorting.

He looked up and saw her, and the sight of her in clothes that were so big on her that they were repeatedly slipping off her shoulders was completely ridiculous. Upon her realizing that he was studying her, a red flush started at the bridge of her nose and spread across her delicate cheekbones before darkening several shades. She plucked nervously at the hem of her (well, his) shirt. "Thank you for the clothes, Kurosaki-kun." She told him shyly.

"Mmm hmm," He responded vaguely. She had thanked him enough. "I set up your bed. I hope you don't mind sleeping on the couch. I asked Dad, but it turns out that he's reserving the bed for his 'third daughter.'"

"No, not at all!" She responded vivaciously, looking indignant at the thought. "Um, he has a third daughter?" She added on a bit more reluctantly.

"Rukia."

"Oh."

From up the stairs, a shrill "_Hollow, Hollow, Hollow_!" echoed from Ichigo's room.

"There's my cue," He sighed.

"Okay, do you want me to come along?" She asked.

"Nah, just make sure Kon doesn't do anything too crazy with my body while I'm gone, alright?"

"Okey dokey, artichokey!" She saluted him, earning an eye roll from the orange-haired man as he walked up the stairs to his room. "Could I use your phone while you're gone? I need to call Tatsuki-chan and my relatives."

"Sure. Help yourself." Ichigo answered over his shoulder.

* * *

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Hold the phone! You're staying with WHO?" Tatsuki almost bellowed from her side of the phone, sounding disbelieving.

"I'm staying with Kurosaki-kun," The orange-haired girl repeated sheepishly. Tatsuki burst into laughter, her voice sounding rather scratchy due to the distance between them.

"This is perfect! I couldn't have planned it better myself!" The karate-master exclaimed mischievously.

"Perfect for what?"

"For making Ichigo realize that he's madly in love with you, of course!"

"Tatsuki-chan, no! I think he prefers Kuchiki-san anyways." Orihime's voice lowered in volume, as she glanced furtively at the door.

"That's just because he hasn't seen your gorgeousness yet. I swear that boy is more oblivious than a rock." The raven-haired woman's voice was matter-of-fact.

"Tatsuki, what do you have in mind?" Orihime asked warily.

The grin was almost audible in her friend's voice. "Y'know those shorts and wife beater I got you? Were you able to save those?"

"Umm, I think."

"Good. Along with those knee-high socks I know you have, wear that tomorrow night. Buy a hair clip or something and then put your hair up. Can you do that?"

"I should. But are you sure?" Orihime asked hesitantly.

"Trust me. The idiot will never know what hit him." Tatsuki reassured. "Oh, damn. I have to go, Mom wants me."

"Okay. Bye."

"Later. Have fun!" Orihime clicked the phone off and, with a sigh, leaned back into the pillows wearily.

"I put your clothes in the dryer. Hope that was alright." Startled by Ichigo's sudden reappearance, Orihime squeaked loudly and tumbled off of the couch into a disheveled heap on the floor. Apparently thinking that this was some kind of game, the puppy bounded over and started trying to gnaw on her fingers.

"Whoa! Inoue, are you alright?!" Righting herself, Orihime looked up at him through dusky orange strands of hair, before blowing them out of her face and scrambling haphazardly to her feet.

"Yes, I think so." Other than a dull pain in her knees and the palms of her hands, she seemed alright. "Thank you for putting my clothes in the dryer, Kurosaki-kun."

"It was no problem," Ichigo shrugged, "I need to go finish my homework from last night, so I'll be in my room if you need me."

Orihime smiled. "Alright. I've already finished my homework, so if you need help on any of it, feel free to ask."

"Will do," Ichigo nodded, though they both knew that he would rather shoot himself than ask for her help. Even if she constantly made better grades than him. "Thanks."

She nodded, fixing her fallen and scattered pillows and wrestling one of them from the puppy who had been gnawing on a corner. Ichigo headed back upstairs and she fell back onto her makeshift bed with a soft sigh.

* * *

"_Psst, Inoue_."

A soft shaking movement caused her to start awake with a mumbled phrase. Blinking blearily, she eventually realized that the bright orange blob was _not _a figment of her imagination and was only Ichigo's hair. Fighting back a yawn, she sat up slowly, rubbing at her eyes. "I-is, something the matter, Kurosaki-kun?" She asked, yawning despite her best efforts.

"Well, you said that if I needed any help, I could ask you, and well, I need help." He admitted sheepishly, not looking at her. She was now more awake and she scooted over to allow him room on her bed.

"Well, what do you need help with?" She asked, accepting the papers he offered her. She scanned the papers briefly, her eyes alighting with recognition. "Yeah, this was rather tricky. I even had Ishida explain it to me." She nodded, spreading the papers out. "See, this is where you got confused." She gestured him over, pointing out his errors and then explaining how he could correct them.

"Okay, I think I've got it," Ichigo stated a few minutes later, picking up his papers once more. "Sorry for waking you, Inoue." He added on apologetically. She waved at him, yawning widely once more.

"It's no problem. I said you could." She told him.

"You can go back to sleep now. I think I can do the rest on my own." Nodding, she slid back under her blankets and curled up on her side into a semi-ball, almost asleep quickly. "Oh, and Inoue?"

"Nnn?"

"… Let's not tell Ishida about this, alright?"

She fought back the urge to smile. "Sure, Kurosaki-kun."

* * *

"Hey, Inoue. Time to get up."

The dull feeling of a hand shaking her shoulder caused her to stir, and she swatted at it almost lazily with a loud, inelegant snort before rolling over and burrowing her face into her pillows. "You're going to be late for school."

At the last word, she started awake and slammed her diamond-hard forehead into Michigan's skull. The orange-haired man reeled back with a low groan. "Ack, Kurosaki-kun! I'm sorry!" Orihime panicked, holding a hand over the area of contact on her own forehead. "Are you alright? Oh, god I killed you. And now everyone's going to look at me and think, here comes the girl who killed Kurosaki-kun, and when the aliens will get here, they won't want anything to do with me because they're benevolent and don't want anything to do with a girl who kil-"

"Inoue, I think I'm fine. Or going to be, at least. Ow." The young Shinigami interrupted her ranting, rubbing at his aching forehead. "Anyway, it's time to get ready." Belatedly, she realized that he was wearing a plain, tight, white t-shirt and pajama bottoms, and flushed brightly.

"I don't have a uniform. It got incinerated at the fire." She realized with a saddening expression.

"I'm sure the school will cut you a break if you explain what happened to it."

"Yes, but hopefully they won't make me pay for it. I know I can't afford it now." She clambered out of bed before brushing past her crush and tracking down the dryer to decide what to wear after she took a shower. Dull thumps outside the laundry room told her that Ichigo had headed upstairs to change, having probably already taken his shower, as indicated by his wet hair. She rifled through the cool, but dry clothes and picked out a skirt and shirt.

The skirt was one she'd only worn once or twice, and wasn't one she would normally wear around Ichigo, but she didn't have a lot of options at the moment. It was a loose, darker green skirt that was made out of silk. It fell to just below her knee with a slit on the side that revealed a generous amount of her thigh. The shirt was a plain, white, peasant-styled shirt with sleeves that fell to her elbows and showed off a decent amount of cleavage.

After taking a quick shower, she dressed hurriedly before slipping on her knee-high socks and her normal flats and joined Ichigo by the door, grabbing her backpack on the way. He lifted an eyebrow at her attire but didn't say anything as he opened the door and they stepped out. The two walked in silence to the school where Orihime broke off to go to the office. "See you in class, Kurosaki-kun!"

* * *

Alas, the first chapter is done. It did not have nearly as many words as I'd been hoping for, only a little above three thousand and wasn't as long as I'd wanted either (only eight) but I liked it.

Reviewers get a cookie! And a plushie of their fav _Bleach_ character!

(Hey, bribery gets you places, man.)

- Vampyre Heartbreak


	2. Belladonna

-gasp- What's this?!?

Is it...an update from me (for this story)?

I do believe it is.

Third one will either be out this week or next. Copper-sama, my ever-amazing beta, is rather busy so she doesn't know when she'll be able to beta it.

But, enjoy for now I guess! :D

* * *

"You cad! You dog!"

Keigo's pathetic crying was heard from around the room as he fisted his hands into the taller Ichigo's shirt, tears streaming dramatically down his face, some of which leaked down onto the tangerine-haired man's shirt. "Her walking around in lingerie, wearing short shorts, catching her in the shower! Oh, the devilry!" he continued to sob hysterically.

Now faintly ticked off, Ichigo removed Keigo's fists from his shirt with ease, rolling his eyes.

"You idiot. She's only been at my house for one night and she wore my clothes last night."

As soon as the words left his lips, he realized that they were the wrong thing to say, judging by Keigo's sudden smirk from under his tears, Ishida's narrowed eyes and Mizuiro's suddenly flying fingers on the pad of his cell phone. "Not like that, you idiots, and Mizuiro, if I come to school tomorrow and I find new rumors flying around about Inoue and me, I'm coming after you."

Mizuiro blinked innocently up at Ichigo. "I'm merely setting up a date with my girlfriend," he denied, pretending not to have a clue as to what Ichigo was referring to, though the item was in plain view in his hand.

Ichigo just shot him a knowing look before glancing surreptitiously at his latest house guest. Orihime, who had been sitting in another part of the room with some of her friends, was talking quite animatedly with Ryo about something, complete with wild gesticulations and clapping, and even a few spastic dance moves. Chizuru, who had been sitting next to Orihime with her arms locked high on her waist, poked her in the ribs before jerking her head in his direction in what was a failing effort to be discreet.

Orihime glanced over at him and when she noticed that Ichigo was actually looking at her, she immediately flushed a bright red and turned back around hurriedly. "We should try it after school!" she insisted loudly after a moment.

"I've heard about that game. Isn't the defending team at a huge disadvantage?" Chizuru asked thoughtfully, arms wrapped securely around the Inoue's waist. Orihime nodded, looking a little sheepish.

"Well, they were. But I did some changing of it and now I think it's a bit more fair. The defending team can now have wings! I'll even pack a picnic!" Orihime enthused happily, oblivious to the amused glances that her friend traded.

"How about we just play volleyball and then go get some dango or something?" Ryo offered instead, blanching slightly at the thought of having to eat Orihime's cooking. The others hurried to agree, and Orihime pouted slightly at the thought of not being to cook, but immediately cheered when she realized that she would be playing one of her favorite sports.

"Hey, ladies. What're you all discussing over here?" Keigo sidled up to the small space between Chizuru and Michiru nosily.

"Seeing as we're getting out early today, we decided to play volleyball after school. You in?" Chizuru asked him, inching away from him slightly as she did.

"I'm free. Mizuiro, you in for playing v-ball after school?" Keigo turned to his more-popular best friend.

Chizuru mouthed 'v-ball' to Ryo with a grin and eye roll as all of the girls had to refrain from snickering at the lame nickname for volleyball.

Mizuiro glanced up from his cell phone just long enough to nod before looking back down.

"Ichigo? Ishida? Sado?"

Ichigo shrugged and Keigo apparently took that a yes. Ishida glanced up from his book before inclining his head once more. Chad, however, had to shake his head. "I'm sorry, Keigo. I promised some friends I'd help them move," he answered in his slow, deliberate voice before falling silent.

Keigo pouted. "Well, that's nine."

"Actually, I'm probably going to sit out as I have no hand-eye coordination and play referee instead and the bonus is that it evens out the teams too," Mahana informed Keigo with a shrug.

"Okay, so that's four on each. Captains?"

"Ishida and Ichigo!" Chizuru put in loudly. "They hate each other enough as it is!" she explained before starting to laugh.

Despite Ichigo's vivid protests and threats, he and Ishida wound up being the captains. Orihime claimed that she would probably be able to borrow a ball from the gym storage room and they decided to all meet up in the rear volleyball court as soon as school let out.

Ochi-sensei then sauntered it right as the bell rang and quickly banished all of the students to their assigned seats before beginning class.

* * *

"Team choosing! Team choosing!"

Keigo seemed to shine like a fluorescent light bulb as he clapped his hands together after school.

Ishida pushed his glasses up his nose serenely and promptly ignored the enthusiastic Asano. "Michiru."

"Ryo," Ichigo distinctly recalled the Kunieda's skill at sports.

"Orihime," Ishida claimed next, knowing about Orihime's particular knack at volleyball despite her normal clumsiness.

Orihime bounced over cheerfully and smiled broadly up at Ishida. The girls had all chosen to change into their gym clothes before meeting at the court so they wouldn't have to worry about accidentally flashing the guys when they were jumping around and Orihime had thrown her hair back into a ponytail due to the sweltering heat that had come up during the afternoon.

"Mizuiro," Ichigo picked next and Mizuiro shuffled over, talking to someone on the phone.

"Chizuru."

"Keigo," Ichigo sighed, calling over the depressed Keigo. Ichigo didn't have to ask to know that the Asano was just bummed that he had gotten picked last. "Flip a coin to see who goes first."

"Fine," Ishida produced a coin. "Tails," he claimed quietly before flipping it high in the air.

The coin flipped and landed on the grassy ground. Ishida glanced at it. "Our ball."

Ryo tossed him the ball and he immediately gave it to Orihime who went to the corner of their half of the court. Her other teammates spread out and Orihime tossed the ball lightly into the air before spiking it neatly over the net.

Ryo dove to keep it from hitting the ground and Ichigo caught it before hitting it to Keigo to spike it back over the net. Ishida rushed to hit it and Chizuru practically leapt over him to hit it back over the net, where Mizuiro barely caught it, having put up his cell phone for the time-being.

Ichigo caught the weak hit and immediately spiked it hard into the ground on Ishida's side.

"Point!" Mahana called loudly, gesturing towards Ichigo's team as she marked a tally in the sand next to her under Ichigo's name.

Orihime handed the ball to Ichigo under the net, as she wasn't tall enough to get it over without jumping. She smiled at him before bouncing back into position cheerfully.

Ichigo hit it hard over the net, and Orihime happened to be the accidental target as she reacted easily and returned the hit smoothly. Keigo dove to the ground to block it and Ichigo caught it from him before spiking it to Mizuiro, who hit it over the net with a bit more force this time.

Orihime caught it again and bopped it to Chizuru who leapt up to drive it into the ground on the other side. "Point!" Mahana called again, this time marking it under Ishida's team with a stick.

It was Ishida's turn to serve this time and he did so in his normal collected manner. The ball almost hit Ichigo's face, and the shinigami had to dive to the ground to avoid getting smacked in the face. "Point!" Mahana called again, marking it again.

Ichigo leapt to his feet, looking highly irritated. "That was a foul!"

"No hit, no foul."

"Besides, it was an accident, Ichigo," Ishida smirked.

Ichigo scowled at him through the net and launched the ball hard at Ishida's smirking face with a flick of the wrist. This time it connected with a dull, hollow _thunk_and Ishida went down like ton of bricks. "Oops, it was an accident," Ichigo mocked with a smirk.

"Kurosaki-kun! That wasn't nice!" Orihime chastised her crush, looking rather worried. Ichigo really had hit the ball hard.

She hurried over to Ishida. "Ishida-kun, are you alright?" she asked, as Ishida started to get up, with a bright red, spherical mark on his face. His glasses were fine, other than a little askew.

"I'm fine, Inoue," Ishida assured her, fixing his glasses with a slight frown.

"Are you sure?" she asked, touching the red mark on his face lightly with her fingers. Her thin eyebrows knitted together in worry.

"Yes."

"That was a foul, Kurosaki! Now it's their serve!" Mahana was busy berating Ichigo who was currently ignoring her, brown eyes focused on the back of Orihime intently.

"Do you want to sit out?"

"No, thank you. I'm fine. Come on, let's finish this," Ishida got to his feet and dusted off his pants before shoving his hair back. "Chizuru-san, could you come here?" The flamboyant lesbian looked up at her name and walked over, standing next to Orihime as she slid her arms around the Inoue's slender waist greedily. "Could you do me a favor though?" he asked her lowly as he accepted the ball from Michiru, who had retrieved it from Ryo.

Chizuru nodded. "Whatever you need."

"Hit Kurosaki with the ball," he told her quietly, handing the ball to her. Her dark eyes widened in excitement.

"I would be more than happy to," she replied giddily. She still hadn't gotten the orange-haired idiot back for daring to put _his_ lips on _her _Hime. This would be perfect.

"It's your serve," he told her, passing the red-haired girl the ball.

Orihime wasn't given a chance to respond, despite the fact that she had heard everything, as Keigo immediately hit the returning ball in her direction. Reacting quickly, she fisted her hands together and hit it over the net, directly into Ichigo's waiting arms.

He hit it back over and Michiru dove to hit it to Mizuiro whose weak hit had Ishida smacking it back easily. Ichigo was the one to hit it once more and it bounced against the ground with Orihime diving for it a second too late.

"Our serve," Ichigo taunted lightly, catching the ball Ishida tossed over.

It was Keigo's turn to serve and he hit it over where Orihime was waiting to spike it back. Ryo dove to catch it where Chizuru caught it and hit it to Orihime, who was a stronger hitter.

Orihime jumped up ... only to spike it directly into Ichigo's face.

This time it was Ichigo who went down like a ton of bricks. "Foul!" Mahana called needlessly as all of the other players herded around the prone Kurosaki worriedly, more slowly than the near-frantic Orihime, who was already at his side and trying her best to examine his bright red face without causing him pain. After a few minutes, she gave up, and merely sat there, biting down on her lip viciously in worry.

"You certainly did hit it hard, didn't you?" Ishida commented lowly to Orihime, nudging the unconscious Ichigo with a foot lightly. Orihime flushed brightly, grey eyes shining with worry and regret.

"I didn't mean to! I thought he would be able to catch that." she cried out softly, looking increasingly worried about her crush the longer he went being prone.

Nobody paid Chizuru any mind, who was throwing a temper tantrum at the back about not getting to be the one to knock Ichigo unconscious.

* * *

When Ichigo came to, he saw the faces of all of his friends crowded around him in a tight circle with Orihime right in front of him, looking more worried than all of the other ones combined. He became more aware of a sharp pain in his face that was growing more painful the more time that passed. "Ow," he realized.

"Kurosaki-kun, are you alright? I wasn't trying to hit you I swear! Your reflexes had been so good, I thought you would be able to catch it! But you didn't and now you look like an embarrassed pumpkin and I feel even worse because I really want to draw a pumpkin face on you and call you Jackie, except I know that's not your name and-" she immediately cut herself off when Ichigo lifted a hand as he sat up slowly. His head pounded right between his temples. "...I'm sorry," she added on after a moment, so quiet Ichigo wasn't sure he heard her.

"Don't worry about it, Inoue. It was an accident," he told her hastily, rubbing at his sore, possibly dislocated nose and wincing.

"You'll probably want to sit out, Kurosaki, at least for a while. Inoue-san hit the ball rather hard," Ishida commented with a smug smirk at the substitute Shinigami.

Ichigo glowered at the Quincy darkly. "I'm fine. Are we going to finish or what?" he asked bluntly.

"_We _are. But as Ishida just said, _you're _gonna sit out," Chizuru told him, crossing her arms.

"I said I'm fine-"

"Ref!"

"You're sitting out, Kurosaki. Suck it up and deal with it."

"I'll sit out too, to even out the teams," Orihime told them softly, taking a seat next to Ichigo and wrapping her arms around her knees.

"Hime, you don't have to do that!" Chizuru protested almost immediately.

"Yes, I do. If I didn't, then Kurosaki-kun's team would be at a disadvantage and that's just not nice," Orihime told her, smiling.

"You don't have to sit out with me, Inoue," Ichigo told her softly as everyone went back to the court. She merely pinkened again and smiled slightly. "But thanks."

The two fell into a comfortable silence, watching as the two teams with an even three on each side hit the ball back and forth.

"Do you like mango?" Orihime asked him out of the blue.

Ichigo turned to her in mild confusion. "What?"

"Do you like mango?"

"Um, I guess. Why?"

"I really want to make something with mango. I'm thinking maybe some carrots and mango in a miso soup with sour cream and maybe honey as a dipping sauce. What do you think?" she explained, missing the way that Ichigo's face greened in record time.

He was nauseous just thinking about the disgusting food combination though when Inoue turned back to look at him questioningly, he forced a would-be smile at her. "It, uh, it sounds interesting," he managed to say, and she beamed happily at it.

"If I make it, would you try it?" She asked him.

_Oh dear God, no! _was what he really wanted to say, but he instead choked the urge back and merely gave a weird nod, shake gesture. She apparently took that as a yes. "Great! When I make it, I'll put some away for you."

"I, um, thanks." he replied hesitantly. _I think. _

The game ended in a steady tie when everyone was absolutely starving and after waiting for the girls to change back out of their gym uniforms, they headed off to a nearby (and cheap) restaurant. Orihime hadn't wanted to put on her civilian clothes again and so had placed them in a bag to be carried.

The restaurant was mostly empty when they arrived and the group was seated quickly. Their waiter came by and dropped off their tea and menus shortly after before doing a double-take at Orihime, who remained ever oblivious to his attentions. Unconsciously, Ichigo stiffened slightly, brown eyes narrowing slightly at the taller, gangly waiter.

"Can I get you anything?" The waiter asked, the question obviously aimed at the oblivious Inoue who was busy tracing an imaginary path in the faux grains of their wooden table. Everyone gave their orders in turn and the boy waited almost eagerly for Inoue to order; she looked up at him and smiled absently.

"Nothing for me, thank you," she promptly looked back down at the table.

"Hime, you have to eat!" Chizuru butted in loudly.

"I forgot my wallet at Kurosaki-kun's home." Orihime explained sheepishly.

"Then I'll cover you! Get whatever you want."

"But-"

"No buts," Chizuru wagged her finger under her friend's nose. "Get whatever you want."

"Um, then I guess I'll have a small plate of dango." she turned back to the waiter and smiled again. The waiter scribbled down her order before walking away to fill it.

After he had vanished from their sight, Orihime turned to look at Ichigo, whose face was now bright red in a flamboyant circle in the center of his face. "How's your head, Kurosaki-kun?"

The ache had been reduced to a dull throbbing by now. "Better, thanks."

"Better put some ice on that later, Kurosaki. Wouldn't want your face to become even more disfigured," Uryuu spoke up smugly.

Ichigo glowered at the raven-haired man, a vein beginning to pulse in his temples.

"Ishida-kun, be nice," Orihime piped in quietly. "You too, Kurosaki-kun." she added on quickly, seeing Ichigo open his mouth, no doubt to say something snide. Both of the men muttered apologies and fell quiet.

"She has you two well-trained," Chizuru dissolved into a fit of laughter at the ludicrous sight of the sullen Kurosaki and almost snotty Ishida falling silent under Orihime's plaintive request.

The others quickly joined in, though a quick glance at Ichigo's Death Glare had a few of them laughing to awkward chuckles. "Bow wow," The table erupted into laughter once more at Chizuru's shrill bark, which she followed up with a high-pitched growl.

Everyone was spared from being killed by Ichigo's murderous wrath by the reappearance of their waiter with their food.

With a surreptitious wink, the waiter placed a larger plate with several large sticks of dango in front of her, a folded piece of paper tucked neatly into the edge.

Ryo plucked it out once the waiter and gone, and unfolded it, before chuckling. "I think it's his phone number."

Orihime blinked. "Why would he give me his phone number? Does he want me to give him feedback?" she asked naively, oblivious to the sudden scowl of Chizuru.

_She really is naïve, _Ichigo thought to himself with a soft sigh and a slight twinge of…something at the waiter.

"He wants to ask you out, Orihime. Like on a date," Michiru explained from beside Ishida before taking a bite of her gyouza.

A look of dawning appeared on the Inoue's face as she flushed vividly. She accepted the refolded piece of paper from Ryo and placed it next to her. "You're going to keep it?"

Orihime bit her lip. "I think so."

"If anything else, it's a good number to give to creeps who want it." Ryo commented airily with a shrug.

"Though if you decide to call him, make sure you don't tell Tatsuki. Remember how bad she flipped when Ichigo kissed Orihime and then told Tatsuki that she was cute _and _kissed her on the cheek? The entire classroom was destroyed!" Michiru started giggling as a dull flush settled briefly over Ichigo's cheeks as he was reminded yet again of what havoc Kon had performed while in his body. "Knowing her, she'd probably actually kill him this time around!"

"Don't call him, whatever you do! I have enough compe-" Ryo neatly clapped her hand over Chizuru's mouth, successfully cutting off her rant.

"Try at least one date, if you want. At the very least, you'll get a free dinner out of it." Ryo told her calmly.

"Well, maybe not. I once went on a date with a guy who didn't pay for dinner, complained about the cost of the dollar movie we saw and actually thought he was going to get lucky. It was ridiculous," Mahana butted in with a laugh. At the look of fear on Orihime's face, the busty girl hurried to soothe her. "But I doubt that'll happen to you. I attract nothing but trashy men, unlike you."

The beauty looked relieved before turning to her two silent, male friends. "Ishida-kun? Kurosaki-kun? What do you think?"

Ichigo just shrugged, having decided that Orihime's personal life was none of his concern.

Ishida merely looked at the earnest Orihime who met his gaze questioningly. "Whatever makes you happy, Inoue-san. Just make sure that you carry pepper spray."

The girls collapsed into a fit of giggles, though Ryo just lifted an eyebrow in vague amusement. He doubted the pepper spray would be necessary with Orihime's black-belt skills, but it was better to be safe than sorry.

Orihime smiled at him softly. "I'll think about it," she decided before beginning to devour her dango ravenously.

"Did he give you more than me?" Chizuru asked, frowning at her own plate of dango.

"'Of course he did. He _loves _her!" Mahana adopted a sing-song voice on the last part, chuckling thickly around her food.

"Shut up, Mahana."

"Only if you do, Chizuru," she shot back, sticking her tongue out.

Chizuru scrunched up her nose at the sight of her food-covered tongue. "Ick. Chew with your math closed." Chizuru told her in disgust.

The other girl just shrugged and continued to devour her food.

* * *

Once they were all done eating, they each started on their way home, saying goodbye to each other at the crossroads. Ichigo and Orihime started on the way to his home. "That was fun," Orihime broke the awkward silence that had fallen over them with a sigh.

"Mm hmm," Ichigo respond vaguely.

"It was fun not having to worry about Hollows or being killed for once," she continued on cheerily. "Though now I have so much homework to do in order to make up for them being burned up yesterday." She pouted.

"It could've been worse. They could've made you do extra work to help accommodate your missing work, on top of the work you already have to do," Ichigo told her.

"You have a point. Time to get started!" she pumped a fist into the air fiercely.

"You can wait until we get home, Inoue," Ichigo told her with just a tinge of exasperation present in his voice. She merely grinned up at him bashfully before dancing up ahead of him. "If you want, you're free to do your homework with me. I don't understand half of what I'm doing, anyways."

She looked at him as she twirled before stumbling and barely keeping herself from tumbling into the ground. "Alright, thank you, Kurosaki-kun," she thanked him politely.

This time he didn't bother acknowledging her thanks; he had been thanked enough by her in the last two days. It was getting a little tiresome, though he knew that it was just Inoue's personality, which was precisely why he didn't mention anything about it to her. (And the fact that her face when upset was not something he ever wanted to experience again.)

They arrived home shortly after with Orihime prattling on quite happily about something to the oddly attentive, but silent, Ichigo as they slipped off their shoes.

Once the door slid shut, Orihime backed away from Ichigo just as a loud scream of "Ichi-goooo!" rang through the air just before Isshin hurled himself at his only son.

Ichigo stopped his father with a swift roundhouse to the face.

Now used to the ways of the Kurosaki household, Orihime left the loud living room and wandered down the hallway in search of her puppy, which she found with Yuzu and Karin in the girl's room, with the door open.

Upon seeing her, the puppy went running to her, yapping excitedly.

Picking up the puppy, the human beauty tickled the dog's belly playfully. "Konbanwa, Karin-chan, Yuzu-chan," she greeted the two younger Kurosakis politely.

"Hello, Orihime-san," Yuzu greeted back, getting to her feet.

"I'm sorry we're so late. I hope she wasn't too much trouble for Kurosaki-san," The puppy nipped her nose affectionately as she spoke and she kissed its nose gently.

"Apparently not. He took her to work with him today to help relax the patients, and it worked like a charm. People loved her," Karin told her casually from her position against the wall.

"Have you decided on a name for her yet?" Yuzu asked her pleasantly.

Orihime gnawed her lower lip. "No, not yet. Do you have any ideas?"

"Bostov!" Yuzu jumped in excitedly.

"We're not naming the dog after a stuffed animal you once had. And the puppy's a girl anyways," Karin told her sister bluntly. "What about Vega?" she suggested, turning back to Orihime.

"Vega?" Orihime and Yuzu echoed.

"Sure. The Tanabata legend, your name is Orihime, Vega. It all ties in," she explained briefly with a shrug.

"But isn't Vega another name for Orihime? So in essence, she would share a name with her dog. What about just Tanabata?" Yuzu pointed out thoughtfully. "Or maybe Livia?"

"What?" Orihime and Karin echoed together.

"I think it's from a Shakespeare play. I saw it once in one of Onii-chan's books," Yuzu explained hesitantly, obviously unsure.

Now Orihime looked confused. "Does Kurosaki-kun like Shakespeare?"

"Yeah. I think it's the only book he'll actually pick up on a regular basis," Karin answered with a snort.

Then a book thumped the black-haired teen on her head lightly.

"I pick up other books as well, you little brat," Ichigo told Karin indignantly, but with no real venom in his voice.

Karin brushed past him to go into the hallway. "Whatever you say, Ichi-nii. I bet you're happy in your world of denial, aren't you?"

Ichigo decided not to answer as his brown eyes looked down at the sitting Inoue. "You ready?"

She blinked. "Eh?"

"Homework, remember?"

"Oh, right!" she laughed nervously. "Sorry, Kurosaki-kun, I'll go get my bag right now and we can start, okay?"

"No need. I got it for you," He lifted up the hand that was holding her backpack as he spoke.

"Oh, thank you, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime cried, taking her bag from him and beaming happily. "C'mon, Livia! Homework time!" she whistled lightly at her puppy before skipping merrily down the hall.

The newly-named puppy went skidding after her owner, running into the wall at some point in her enthusiasm.

_Like owner, like dog._

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow at the name but didn't say anything as he turned and followed her down the hall to his room.

She had gotten to his room before he had, but she hadn't entered. She was merely standing out in front of it, one hand extended as if she was about to reach for the knob. An odd look was on her face. "Inoue? You can go in, you know," Ichigo came up behind her and reached around her to twist the door knob and pushed it open.

Orihime snapped out of it just in time to realize how close he was to her (she could feel his breath on the nape of her neck, and his warmth radiating from his too-close skin) and her face heated up several shades of red immediately before entering with Livia prancing at her feet.

"Sorry, Kurosaki-kun! I was suddenly afraid that maybe the little blue men were in here and they were going to trip me and tie you up or something!" she told him cheerfully, though her voice was lacking something. Though what it was, he wasn't sure.

In truth, she had been plagued by memories of her confession to the unconscious Ichigo before she had been taken to Hueco Mundo and had been frozen by it.

Ichigo closed the door behind her, and as soon as the door clicked shut, a brown torpedo came hurtling at Orihime from Ichigo's dresser, crying "Orihime-chan!"

Ichigo caught Kon by the ear, successfully stopping him from burrowing himself into the Valley of the Gods and flung him onto his bed. "Damn you, Ichigo!" The plushie wept dramatically. "Don't you care about my happiness?!"

"No," The tangerine-haired man responded immediately, setting his backpack down on the floor next to his low table in the center of his room. "Now go away. We have to study."

"Yeah, I bet you'll be doing _oral exams_." Kon sniggered before being bumped by something behind him. The perverted plushie immediately whirled around, puffing up with indignation, only to be faced with big grey eyes and a wet black nose and wet hot breath being panted on his face. "What the-"

And then Livia pounced.

Orihime sat down opposite him and smiled "He's entertaining."

Ichigo was bluntly ignoring Kon's cries of pain. "Irritating is more like it but whatever."

* * *

Mwuhaha, chapter two done. It's also longer than chapter one, which is always nice.

Oh, and for Livia: the name actually does come from a Shakespeare play (Twelth night, I believe). I saw it spelled both Olivia, and Livia and decided that I liked the later way more.

And for all of the reviewers: thank you so much! I'm glad everybody liked it so much! -hands out plushies and cookies alike-

And for the people who commented that it seemed that the reason for Orihime's house being burned down was a little suspicious: thank you even more! You guys helped me come up with the best ending ever (if I ever make it to there, that is.)

Thanks again!

Review, and make me happy! (Which may mean more updates!)

(Oh hell yes, bribery gets you everywhere.)

-Vampyre Heartbreak


	3. Narcissus

Mwuhaha. Copper-sama actually sent this to me a few days ago (because she's awesome like that) but I decided to wait a few more days before posting this.

I rather enjoy putting Ichigo and Hime into awkward situations. It's a lot of fun.

And no, Ichigo doesn't squeal. He almost did, but managed to hold it in at the last moment. XD

* * *

"Wait, so how do you do this again?" Ichigo asked some time later, utterly confused.

Orihime almost started giggling at the adorable, confused look on his face. Apparently, math was _not_ Ichigo's forte, as she had explained the same formula to him several times over.

She leaned over the table to see what he had done so far. Her long, loose hair slid over her slightly hunched shoulder and she pushed it back before using the same hand to point at a particular part of his problem.

"See, this is where you did wrong," she told him patiently, before beginning to explain how it worked once more.

Unbeknownst to the two, the door cracked opened and Isshin peeked in, giggling maniacally to himself as he lifted a hand with an object clutched tightly in his hand.

He closed one eye and looked through the little peephole in the object with the other.

_Click. _

The picture was too priceless _not_ to take, and he closed the door quietly before flicking back into the memory to look at his most recent capturing.

Bingo, blackmail.

In the picture, Ichigo's scowl seemed to have lessened somewhat in Orihime's presence and the look in his eyes was almost soft as he stared at the bowed Orihime's head as she explained to him the workings of the problem; and as an added bonus, there was a slight lift in the Inoue's skirt, tempting the eye.

Despite his nature, the elder Kurosaki decided to leave his son alone for once as he crept down the stairs quietly. Besides, he had to make copies and stash them before telling Ichigo what he'd done.

* * *

A loud scream of "Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!" startled Orihime viciously as she immediately reared back and lost her balance while Ichigo didn't even blink, merely asking her if she was alright.

She confirmed that she was fine, except for a sore derriere (even if she didn't tell him that). "I'll finish up here. Go," she shooed him, stumbling to her feet clumsily as she picked up the papers that had scattered when she had fallen back. She couldn't look at Ichigo, as she knew that her face had been bright red since she first felt Ichigo's warm breath on the back of her neck.

"I'll leave my notes out if you get back after I go to bed," she told him, voice slightly muffled as she got down onto the floor to reach under the bed to try and grasp a stray paper that had snuck under.

She wriggled slightly in an effort to get further under, making Ichigo immediately turned towards his deputy badge as he realized that he liked the image of Orihime wriggling a bit too much.

"Okay," he told her as he knew she wouldn't be able to see him nod with herself stuffed halfway under his table.

Ichigo grasped his badge and his material body immediately went limp as Ichigo, in full Shinigami garb, leapt out his open window.

Orihime couldn't help but smile as she heard the comical _thump _Ichigo's inert body made as it flopped onto the bed, causing springs to squeak. She finally grasped the stray paper and wriggled her way out from under the table before exhaling sharply and tucking her hair behind her ear.

She placed the paper back on the table and sat down to continue her work. Livia was fast asleep away from her, having successfully ripped at Kon's seams until they split. Orihime had already offered to sew him back up later.

* * *

Every muscle screaming, a bloodied Ichigo crept back through his window, landing lightly on his bed and having to avoid his body, which looked like it had been tucked in. Orihime had indeed left her notes behind for him to use, along with a few extra chocolate bars on top of them. It was just like her to remember that he was always ravenous after doing hollow duty. It must have been her who put his body in bed, probably to seem as if he was sleeping.

With seconds, he was back in his body and sitting down in front of his unfinished homework. Orihime had organized his once-scattered homework by subject and into neat stacks. She had also used small slips of paper in his textbooks to let him know what pages were for what questions.

She had left a note under the chocolate bars for him. Picking it up, he read:

_Hey there, Kurosaki-kun!_

_I finished my studying for the night around eleven and I was going to wait up for you but by midnight, I had to go to bed. You know what they say about the little green men, right?_

_Anyways, I left my notes out for you. I hope they're some help. If not, feel free to wake me up and I'll be glad to help. _

_I figured you would be both tired and hungry when you got back, so I also left you some chocolate from my secret stash. There's also a dinner plate with some leftover food on it, covered in plastic wrap. I even made sure that there was wasabi sauce and honey in there as well, if you want it!_

_Good luck!_

_-Inoue_

Despite himself, he was smirking in amusement at the letter written in Orihime's standard, loopy handwriting.

Ichigo put the letter back down and picked up a candy bar before unwrapping it and devouring it ravenously. He'd go back for the plate of leftovers later on, though he'd stay far away from the wasabi and honey.

Close to an hour later, Ichigo crept down the stairs, taking care to avoid the squeaky step.

Heading into the kitchen, he slowly opened the fridge and removed the covered plate before wrapping part of it to peer inside. There were two sticks of dango, a small side of sashimi, along with some tempura and gyouza and finally a few smaller flaked salmon onigiri. He rewrapped the plate hastily before closing the door of the fridge.

Ichigo padded out of the kitchen quietly, freezing in his tracks when a sudden, short snore came from the couch. He twisted to look at the source of the sound, though he couldn't see the obviously unconscious girl.

As he watched, a small, finely-boned hand flopped into the moonlight, becoming bathed in silvery light. Orihime snorted once more as she rolled over onto her stomach.

Ichigo shifted his position for a better vantage point.

Orihime's face was slack with a bit of drool smudged on her face and glistened dully in the reflected moonlight. The moonlight rebounded off of the floor and bleached Orihime's chestnut hair, some of which had fallen into her face.

In the silence of the house, he could easily hear the soft snores escaping the buxom beauty's open mouth. She had kicked off all of her blankets and due to all of her shifting around; her shirt had ridden up, showing off a few inches of the pale, unmarked skin of her stomach. Livia, her puppy, was fast asleep on the pillow, looking comfortably sprawled out with her back right paw draped between Orihime's peacefully closed eyes.

The strangely intimate image had him feeling flustered for some reason and he headed back upstairs hastily, not bothering to avoid the squeaky step, which groaned loudly in protest under his weight.

The only response was another snore.

* * *

"Good mooooorning, Hime-chan!"

Orihime's eyes flew open at the yelling greeting, almost immediately feeling the soft weight situated on her breasts. Upon seeing a lion plushie face inches away from her own, she reacted instinctively and slammed the palms of her hands against the face, sending Kon flying across the room. "Yaaah!"

Kon smacked hard against the wall with a loud squeak before slumping limply to the ground.

Livia, immediately upon seeing her new favorite toy, bounded off of the couch and darted off towards Kon, who, upon seeing the puppy, immediately sprinted away screaming.

Ichigo appeared from the hall way, side-stepping to avoid the pair, Livia yapping away happily. His hair looked damp and more tousled than normal, his uniform on with the shirt half unbuttoned, and a toothbrush hanging from his mouth. Prominent bags hung under his tired brown eyes. "I think I should thank your dog one of these days," he commented out loud as a greeting, looking thoughtful.

The sexily tousled Ichigo had her blushing all sorts of reds. "You looked tired," Orihime noted, examining his wan face worriedly. "How long were you up?" she continued, seeing the total lack of Isshin and Yuzu and Karin.

"Not sure. It was late, though. Thanks for the dinner plate," Ichigo answered around his toothbrush. Her nose crinkled at the white foam that flecked his mouth as he spoke. "My family left a few minutes ago," he continued, noting her curious glances around the house. "Which is why this idiot is out," the shinigami substitute jerked a thumb at the hallway that Kon's screams were coming from as he headed back into the bathroom.

"Don't forget to button your shirt!" she called down to him, feeling surprisingly bold despite her crimson cheeks.

Ichigo just lifted a hand in acknowledgement.

Orihime rolled off of the couch and caught herself loudly. Dusting off her pajama bottoms, she headed to the laundry room to get her uniform. She only had one uniform currently, due to her fire, so she had to wash it everyday.

Ichigo left the bathroom just then, looking noticeably more put-together despite the bags under his eyes and she slipped in then, locking it firmly behind her before stripping to take her shower.

* * *

"Kurosaki-kun!"

Ichigo turned at his formal surname, only to see an excited Orihime rushing back towards him with a newspaper clutched in her arms. She barreled towards him before skidding to a stop, narrowly avoiding colliding with him. "Look!" the healer jabbed at a particular article enthusiastically.

After moving her finger to the side gently, he read: "Trail of Lights Open, Thousands Expected."

"The Trail of Lights, huh? I'd forgotten about that." he skimmed the article briefly.

Orihime nodded happily, accepting the paper from him and tucking it under her arm as she fell into stride beside him. She had stopped by a gas station to buy a newspaper so she could look for and potentially call about any available places, and despite her protests, he'd opted to wait for her.

"I used to go there with my brother every year!" Orihime told him cheerfully. "Though I haven't gone in the last few years. I tried going the winter after the accident, but I got too emotional and had to go home," she admitted in a more lackadaisical tone before brightening once more. "Maybe I'll try again this year! I think Sora-nii would want me to enjoy it and I've always loved the lights," she sighed almost dreamily.

"Is it really that good?" Ichigo asked, squinting his eyes as sunlight peeked from behind the clouds briefly and directly into his eyes.

Orihime nodded eagerly.

"Oh yes! They string the lights up into the trees and some of them are designed in a certain way. I remember that the last time I went with my brother, they had designed a tree to look like fire and it was amazing! And they always had this one light exhibit that consisted of two rain clouds on either side of a light stream that looked like a river with a rainbow in the middle and it was always my favorite of them all. And then at the end of the trail, there's this really tall tree made of spiraling lights and you can spin and spin until you get sick!" Orihime grew animated as she told him about the various exhibits, waving and gesticulating wildly. At one point she even threw up her arms when she was described the tree and then spun in circles until Ichigo grasped her arms to stop her from running into a light pole. "Haven't you ever gone, Kurosaki-kun?" the young healer paused to look at him curiously.

Ichigo shook his head. "Not that I can remember."

She gasped, eyes widening. "You have to go! It's so much fun!" Orihime paused briefly. "And it's free," she added on thoughtfully after a moment before brightening. "I know! You can come with me when I go! You and your family! It'll be my way of thanking all of you for your help," Orihime nodded decisively to herself. "I'll pay for everything. The rail is apparently going there, so we can save ourselves the extra walking and I still have my pass and that's four. Yes, this is do-able!" she began plotting under her breath as they arrived at the Kurosaki household and they slipped off their shoes.

"Hey, don't I get a say?" Ichigo asked her. She turned to look at him as she slid open the door and smiled up at him serenely.

"Nope!" she answered cheerfully. "You have too many troubles for a teenager. You need to learn to have fun." the cheery girl explained, stepping inside after he had and closed the door behind her, smiling up at him fondly.

"If my memory serves, you have more troubles than the normal teenager as well," Ichigo pointed out as they wandered their way into the kitchen.

She merely laughed. "Of course I do. But I, unlike you, know how to have fun."

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow, deciding not to answer as her laughter was reduced to giggling.

"Your father hasn't attempted to attack you yet." Orihime nodded suddenly, sounding surprised. It was vaguely depressing as to how she hadn't even been there three full days, and already was used to his father's warped mental processes.

"Ichigo? Hime-chan? Is that you?" Isshin poked his head out of the adjacent room, a dorky grin present on his face. Ichigo automatically tensed at the sudden reappearance of his father, fully expecting an attempted blow to the head. "Guess who's baa-aaack-" He ushered them into the kitchen, pointing blithely at the girl sitting demurely at the table with Yuzu and Karin with Livia perched eagerly under the table in search of scraps.

"Kuchiki-san!" Orihime exclaimed in mild surprise, hurrying forward to greet the petite Shinigami. "When did you get back?"

Rukia blinked in confusion. "Inoue? What're you doing here?"

Orihime smiled sheepishly. "My apartment burned down a few days ago and Kurosaki-kun and his family were kind enough to allow me to stay here," she explained cheerfully.

"Burned down?" Rukia repeated dimly. "As in to the ground?"

Orihime merely bobbed her head, still looking sheepish.

"Did you leave the burner on?"

"No! Why does everyone think that?" Orihime cried out, laughing. "It was one of my elder neighbors. I think her curtains caught on fire."

The expression on the tiny Shinigami's face was disbelieving, but she didn't say anything.

"Hime-chan, what were you two talking about on your way in? I heard you from here." Isshin turned to the petite beauty, pouring himself another cup of coffee.

"Eh?" Orihime turned to him, blinking rapidly in confusion before his question registered. "Oh! The trail of lights! It's opening tonight and I thought it'd be nice for me to treat you and your family to it soon. But since Kuchiki-san is here, we don't have to go. It was just an idea."

"I think it'd be awesome to go," Karin butted in with her normal rude manner. "Rukia-san is more than welcome to not have to come."

Barely managing to hide her confusion, Rukia let out a soft smile. "No, no. I would love to go with you if you don't mind."

"Of course you are welcome!" Orihime exclaimed excitedly.

"Are you coming, Onii-chan?" Yuzu asked sweetly.

Ichigo opened his mouth to answer but Orihime beat him to the punch. "Kurosaki-kun's coming."

"She didn't leave me much of a choice," Ichigo leaned against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest.

Slightly abashed, Orihime smiled softly at him, before looking away as Yuzu asked her a question.

Sipping idly at her drink, Rukia's violet eyes noticed the way that Ichigo's brown eyes remained on the back of Inoue's head a moment longer before looking away quickly and a fine raven eyebrow arched slightly in mute amusement.

After ironing out the details (in which Orihime insisted that she would pay for everything, but finally conceded to allow the girls to buy their own souvenirs), Ichigo, Rukia, and Orihime headed up the stairs to "work on homework."

Ichigo glanced down the other side of his door and up and down the hallway before closing and locking his door and turning to the Kuchiki. "What're you really doing here?"

Rukia dropped her saccharine sweet voice. "The Society's worried about the sudden rise of Hollows in this location. You must have noticed," the petite shinigami explained, sitting on the bed and crossing her arms.

Orihime, who had taken a seat beside Ichigo's low table, turned to Ichigo, gray eyes wide. "Kurosaki-kun, has there really been an increase in Hollows?" Orihime immediately began scanning the orange-haired man for any possible injuries, though she had already used her Soten Kishun on him earlier that day.

"It's fine, Inoue," he assured her hurriedly, thought she hardly looked reassured. "They're mostly small-fry anyways. Barely on my radar."

She still looked troubled, but she nodded hesitantly.

Ichigo turned back to Rukia, who looked vaguely amused. "What?" he demanded rudely.

"Nothing," she answered innocently. "Like I was saying, the numbers of Hollows is alarming now and the Society is worried that it'll be too much for you and Kurumadani to handle so they sent me."

"They sent you when there Ishida-kun, Sado-kun, myself, not to mention Urahara-san, Yoruichi-san, and Tessai-san?" Orihime confirmed in confusion. Rukia turned to her, as did a surprised Ichigo. Under the intense scrutiny, she became rather flustered, her cheeks turning a light pink. "I-I'm just saying that it seems that there's another reason as to why you're actually here," she explained sheepishly.

Rukia sighed. "You're right. The real reason I'm here is because they want a report on Ichigo," she answered bluntly.

"Report?" Ichigo and Orihime echoed.

"Yes. You have to remember that after Inoue was taken to Hueco Mundo, you defected from the Soul Society when they refused to send help so you could go after her yourself. They want me to analyze you to make sure something similar won't happen again," Rukia explained.

"Well, I'm not exactly planning on getting kidnapped again," Orihime pointed out quietly.

Ichigo studied her out of the corner of his eye. He knew that any mention of Hueco Mundo made her become more somber.

"Well, yes. But who really plans these things?" Rukia shrugged. "The Soul Society is full of paranoid old geezers. This is not new."

Orihime smiled weakly before turning to look at Ichigo despite herself. She hadn't known that he had left Soul Society for her. Knowing that caused a fluttery sensation in her stomach. By now, she was very familiar with the feeling and as the Kurosaki's brown eyes slid over to her gray ones, she averted her faze to the ground shyly.

_They really are oblivious fools, _Rukia thought wryly to herself with a small smirk.

Ichigo immediately noticed and demanded to know what had caused it. She then denied anything to do with it.

"Um, Kuchiki-san," Orihime spoke up once more, twiddling her thumbs. The two arguing Shinigami looked at her expectantly. "How long will you be staying this time around, do you know?"

"I think about two weeks, though I could potentially be called back at any moment." The violet-eyed Shinigami answered.

Orihime beamed ecstatically, before getting to her feet and excusing herself, claiming that she had homework that needed to be done.

"You can do your homework in here again if you want. I may have trouble again," Ichigo offered quickly, making his tone nonchalant.

Orihime turned to look at him with her hand on the doorknob and after a moment, accepted his offer before leaving to retrieve her book bag.

"You like her."

Ichigo turned to Rukia. "What?"

"_You _have a crush on _Inoue._" she explained. "It's obvious."

"You're mental," he snapped, irritated. "She's just a friend. A buddy. Like you or Renji."

"You mean a fuc-"

Ichigo tackled the tiny Shinigami, locking her into a headlock roughly. They were in this position when the door creaked open and Orihime appeared once more, books successfully in hand.

She stared at the pair for a long moment, her eyebrows crumpled in a look of confusion and worry. "Is everything alright?" Then she watched, still at the door, the two separate like skin contact burned. She couldn't help the small quirk to her lips at Ichigo's embarrassed expression as she sat down once more at Ichigo's low table, only because she found it utterly adorable. Livia was right behind her, eagerly sniffing around for Kon, who Ichigo knew for a fact was hiding desperately in his top dresser drawer.

Ichigo started to follow her example when a shrill scream of "Hollow! Hollow! Hollow!" pierced the air, causing Orihime to flinch violently. "You're being called," Orihime told him needlessly, righting her scattered papers.

Ichigo nodded as he touched his deputy badge briefly before leaping out the window.

Once he was out of sight, Rukia rounded on the utterly bewildered Orihime.

"What's going on between you two?" She demanded.

Orihime blinked. "Pardon?"

"There's something going on between you two."

"No there's not." The buxom beauty denied, flushing. Violet eyes narrowed.

"…You're in love with him, aren't you?" Rukia realized with a smirk. Orihime's blush darkened drastically as her gray eyes averted to the ground. "You are, aren't you?" The Kuchiki's face split into a wide smile.

The gray-eyed woman gnawed fiercely on her lower lip. "Is it that obvious?"

"The doe eyes you flash him when he's not looking help." Rukia remarked with a shrug. Orihime's eyes widened drastically. "I think it's rather sweet." she continued almost dreamily.

"I think you and Renji-kun are rather sweet too, Kuchiki-san." Orihime interjected naively. Now it was the other girl's turn to look flustered.

"What do you mean? We're just friends," Rukia protested.

Orihime merely smiled knowingly at her. "Maybe that's what you think, but I don't think so with him. I've seen how he looks at you."

"Oh? And how does he look at me?" Rukia challenged playfully.

"Well, its loving, that's for sure, but definitely not like a sibling love. It also looks wistful to me, like he wants you but know he can't have you. It seems rather heated, too. I don't know, it's hard to explain." Orihime struggled to explain, before lifting her hands in a slight shrug of surrender. "Anyways, I need to get started on homework," she said with a slight frown, opening her Japanese textbook.

Deciding to study Renji's face when he thought she wasn't looking at the next chance she got, Rukia observed the amount of homework Orihime had to do. "You have a lot of homework, Inoue."

Orihime looked up and smiled serenely. "Yes, I usually ask for more work than what's actually assigned."

"Why?"

Another serene smile. "I'm hoping to be able to go to Tokyo U one day. That's why I work so hard, as the university's super elite. Like I'm sure even secret agents would have trouble getting in!"

"What do you want to major in?" she couldn't help but ask, deciding to ignore the secret agent comment.

"I'm not sure. I've always considered becoming a teacher." Orihime wondered, half to herself as she began to write her eyes on the textbook. "Or maybe an astronaut!" she exclaimed cheerfully, pausing. "Yeah, so whenever I see one of those "I've Been There!" statues, I could something, a pin probably, into the surrounding air to simulate having gone to space!"

Rukia had to bite down on the inside of her cheek until she tasted blood to keep from giggling at Orihime's ludicrous logic. "But wouldn't you get lonely up there?"

"Oh, right," Orihime realized, her cheeriness dampening. "Well, education it is, then!" she decided with a laugh before returning to her homework. "Oh, Kuchiki-san. Was the cover-up concerning the increase in Hollows accurate in any way?"

"Actually, yes. The entire thing was true, even if it wasn't my real reason for being here," Rukia answered almost lazily, reclining back on the bed, eyeing the wary Kon as he peeked out of the dresser drawer.

Livia immediately noticed and bounded over to sit at the base of the dresser, barking excitedly. Kon immediately hid once more. Orihime didn't seem to notice, as her pencil flew over her paper.

"Why?"

"Why the increase, you mean?" Rukia clarified, not bothering to wait for an answer. "Kisuke's claiming that someone robbed his store while he was preoccupied. The idiot probably broke some cases of Hollow bait when he was running away."

Orihime looked up, her eyes widening once more. "Cases of Hollow bait?" she echoed dimly. "We're not going to have a repeat of when Ishida-kun challenged Kurosaki-kun, are we?"

"No," Rukia reassured, secretly wondering how Orihime knew about that. "That time, the hollows came immediately and the sky rift also happened quickly. But seeing as Ichigo has finer control over his reiastsu, sort of at least, I doubt that it'll happen. If I'd thought Ichigo needed help, I'd have gone with him."

Rukia saw a brief flash of something (regret, maybe?) in Orihime's eyes before it vanished quickly.

The skin between violet eyes puckered in question.

The silence was broken by Ichigo tumbling haphazardly onto his bed through the window, immediately barking out: "Who said you could sit on my bed, midget?"

Rukia merely rolled her eyes and didn't say anything, making another mental note to quiz Orihime later.

Orihime's anxious voice was heard asking the powerful Shinigami if he was injured, which he immediately assured he wasn't. He slid effortlessly back into his body before sitting opposite his longhaired classmate.

He had barely started on his homework when Yuzu knocked on the door and informed them that dinner was ready.

* * *

Dinner at the Kurosaki home was, as always, entertaining. It started with Isshin attempting to karate chop Ichigo in the neck, which his son blocked before clocking Isshin right below the eye.

Sharply, Orihime stepped around the resulting scuffle before taking her seat at the table. Rukia sat down next to her. "Karin, stop them," Yuzu turned to her twin as she placed down a plate of food. "The neighbors might call the cops again."

The raven-haired Kurosaki glanced up at Yuzu's departing back. "Yeah, I don't think so. I like my head where it is," Karin drawled dryly, picking up a salmon onigiri and nibbling on it. "Besides, leaves more for us."

"You always say that," Yuzu chided. "Orihime-nee, what do you think?" Orihime looked up and opened her mouth before the suffix that Yuzu had added on to her name sunk in and she froze, eyes widening.

"U-um, I guess as long as nobody gets seriously hurt, it's not that bad. I find it rather entertaining, to be honest," the teenager answered shyly, turning to look at the scuffling pair. She could easily see Ichigo's brilliant black eye from where she sat.

"Oi, Goat Chin, Ichi-nii. Quit fighting or we'll give your food to Livia," Karin spoke, an excited yap coming from under the table.

A very cold, wet nose suddenly pressed suddenly into the sensitive skin on the inside of Orihime's bare ankle. She yelped, jumping and fell out of chair and her back collided painfully with the ground as her legs sprawled over the seat of her chair.

Ichigo paused in his attempt to render his father's face concave to look over at the openly-stunned girl. "You okay, Inoue?"

"I think I just knocked my spine into shock, but I think so," She answered dazedly, accepting Rukia's offered hand and sitting upright once more with a slight wince.

Isshin slammed his elbow into Ichigo's face. "You dropped your guard!"

"Dammit! I was making sure she was alright!" Ichigo lashed out with his leg, knocking his father out successfully. He sat down at the table, only to see Karin slipping Livia bits of food. "Oi, whose food are you giving away?"

She glanced up. "Yours. You took too long."

"Brat," She only shrugged and took a bite of her onigiri. Yuzu roused her father and they began to eat.

"When do we want to go to the Trail of Lights?" Isshin asked some time later.

"Perhaps this weekend? Kurosaki-kun and I have a few tests coming up over the next few days that we need to study for," Orihime answered, swallowing a bite of food. "Speaking of which, Kurosaki-kun, I have some errands to run in my old neighborhood after school tomorrow so you don't have to walk me home."

"Errands?" Ichigo asked around a mouthful of kurimu shitu.

She nodded. "Yes, just a few things that I need to get done."

"I'll come with," he shrugged.

"I will, too." Rukia butted in with a slight smirk at Ichigo, who just scowled at her. "It'll be a little 'day out' for us."

Ichigo had to refrain from sighing at the misuse of 'day out,' merely taking another bite.

The healer gnawed fiercely on her lower lip. "Are you sure? It probably won't be much fun."

"The more the merrier, right?" Rukia smiled, before digging in to her own kurimu shitu.

"Right," Orihime agreed, smiling warmly at the girl who had become almost a sister to her. She plucked up a few individual gyouza before eating one. "The dinner is fantastic, Yuzu-chan," Orihime told the younger girl shyly, hesitating briefly before adding the familiarizing suffix.

"Thank you!" The young Kurosaki beamed. "Ichi-nii told me about your fondness for red bean paste so I did some experimenting earlier and the result was a kind of red bean paste cupcake. I'm not sure how it'll taste but you're welcome to them," she told the beauty cheerfully, who smiled ecstatically. "I left them in the oven to stay warm."

"Thank you Yuzu-chan!" Orihime exclaimed happily, before excusing herself to the kitchen and returning moments later with a warm red bean paste cupcake, which she nibbled on eagerly, oblivious to the blanches of the Kurosaki family (plus one).

* * *

Ichigo crept down the stairs, taking care to avoid the squeaky step as he attempted to sneak into the kitchen for something to drink. They had been at work for over two hours, and while he was almost done with his homework, Orihime still had a mountain left. After he asked, she had told him the same answer that she had Rukia.

It seemed that he was learning more about Inoue Orihime every day. Including the fact that she actually seemed to enjoy doing homework, which was something he could not understand _at all. _Though it did explain how she was always so high up in the grades. He had never quite gotten over the fact that after returning from Hueco Mundo and after the Winter War, she had still gotten second place, tying with Ryo for it.

"Onii-chan, could you help me fold laundry? It won't take long," Yuzu evidently saw him. "Please?" she added on softly after a moment.

Vividly remembering the grilling Kon had given him after his return from his Vizard training about abandoning his younger sisters, Ichigo found himself reluctantly agreeing and sat down next to her. The ecstatic smile she shot him made him feel even worse than Kon had. They worked quietly and efficiently until Ichigo pick up a pair of rather skimpy underwear.

"Aren't you a little young for these?" Ichigo was no longer bothered by the thought of handling his sisters' under garments, as he had been helping with laundry for longer than he could remember. Though admittedly, it had taken a bit of getting used to when they were older and no longer interested in 'childish' underwear.

Yuzu glanced up briefly at the underwear he was still holding before looking back down at the shirt she was folding disinterestedly.

"Those aren't mine. Their Orihime-nee's."

Barely containing what would have without a doubt been a rather girlish squeal, Ichigo flung away the offending piece of underwear.

Yuzu glanced up curiously, though she had to giggle at the look of horror on her onii-san's face. He glowered at her indignantly, cheeks flushing brightly.

He… he had just willingly _picked up_ his _classmate's underwear_.

Laundry forgotten, he fled back upstairs, snickers in a perfect impersonation of Keigo's voice ringing in his ears.

The door to his bedroom slammed opened , causing Orihime to jump in reflex as Ichigo blew in like a hurricane.

"Kurosaki-kun, is something the matter?" Orihime asked, looking up at him with big, worried, gray eyes.

Just looking at her reminded him of what he had recently held in his hands (with all its _laciness_ and _skimpiness_) and his gaze averted from her's in acute embarrassment.

It was obvious, painfully so, that he would never be able to look at Orihime the same way ever again.

* * *

Poor Ichigo. I really am too mean to him, aren't I? XD

And I added in IchiHime for everybody who asked! (Even if it was already written.)

I hope you liked it! Cookies to everyone who replied.

Oh, and to who it was who commented that it seemed that my chapters were named after flowers: you were right. I had already used stars and moons, so I figure that flowers would be cool, as Orihime's Rikka are all names of flowers. But yes, nice job noticing it.

-Vampyre Heartbrek


	4. Lily

Holy...crap.

NINETEEN REVIEWS for last chapter alone?

I wish I could, like, marry all of you. But I'm relatively sure that's considered polygamy, so I can't.

But I can give you cookies and plushie of your favorite character!

So, um, this has been beta'd by the amazing _Copper_. Love her!

Do I look like I own Bleach? No, I don't.

* * *

"So what kind of errands do you have to run?" Ichigo asked the girl next to him from under the safety of his umbrella.

Orihime looked up from under her own umbrella. The rain had made a return and now the street were darkened and wet with large puddles everywhere. He had to admit, at least to himself, that Orihime was definitely wet dream material in her formfitting school uniform with its short skirt, along with her light blue flowered umbrella, overly large galoshes and her long, black sweater.

"Well, I want to stop by the burn site to see how it's going. There's also a bakery that's close that I want to stop in. I also need to stop by the dry-cleaners and if we have time, we could stop by this little yakisoba shop that's excellent and cheap," Orihime answered thoughtfully. "Oh, and I should get more clothes, so I need to go to a consignment store as well."

Ichigo couldn't help a grimace and she evidently noticed, judging by her slight smile. "I said you didn't have to come, Kurosaki-kun."

He merely grunted as the pair continued down the street. Kisuke had called Rukia to his shop for something, which was how it wound up being the two of them. Tatsuki had not yet returned from her forced vacation and Ichigo had blatantly refused to allow Chizuru to accompany them, despite her threats and complaints.

"Here we are! Our first stop," Orihime's cheerful voice broke through the comfortable silence as she paused outside the small, quaint-looking bakery.

"Here?" Ichigo confirmed as they entered the small store, almost immediately hit with the delicious smell of fresh pastries.

" Yup! I'm pretty good friends with the owner. He usually gives me a discount, in return for me watching his children for free. He is always willing to try out anything I can think of. He makes the _best _guacamole-carrot muffins," she told him, oblivious to the way Ichigo's face greened.

_Guacamole-carrot muffins? _He thought in disbelief, pulling a face despite himself when her back was turned.

"Ah, Orihime-san!" A deep masculine voice called, as a short, balding, heavyset man entered from the back, a cheerful smile on his face.

"Takayama-san, good to see you!" She greeted politely, turning to look at the bakery owner.

"It's been too long, my dear. And who's this young lad behind you? Your boyfriend?" There was a teasing glint in Takayama-san's deep blue eyes as he spoke.

Orihime flushed deeply. "This is Kurosaki Ichigo, a classmate of mine. We're just spending the day together," Orihime denied, vehemently.

"Like a date?"

Her blush deepened. "Takayama-san!"

"Ho ho ho! I'm just teasing my dear," The older man told her lightly as he tied a white apron around his waist. "I just finished making some of those muffins you love so much. Would you like some?"

"Oh, yes, please. Half a dozen please," she responded, earning a nod and another smile as Takayama-san disappeared into the back. She picked up a hand basket before turning to look at the silent Kurosaki. "Would you like anything, Kurosaki-kun? I highly recommend the Kabocha Korokke. It's to die for," She reached for some of the very pastries she had praised, placing them in her basket.

"Nah."

"Are you sure?" She turned, placing a small loaf of warm bread in as well.

"Yeah. Not that hungry," Ichigo answered, following her as she wandered throughout the small store.

After picking up a few more items, consisting of a couple croissants, a chocolate-chip muffin in case he changed his mind later, and a blueberry muffin for her, she returned to the checkout where her bag of muffins were waited.

"How much, Takayama-san?" She asked, pulling out her wallet. The bakery owner waved it away.

"It's on the house, my dear girl. I heard about your home. Tell me, where are you staying? I may not have a lot of room, but you're welcome here," He asked, bagging up the purchases.

"Arigato, Takayama-san, but it's not necessary. Kurosaki-kun and his family were kind enough to let me stay with them," she assured, taking her free purchases.

"Oh, really? Well, take good care of my Orihime-san, okay Kurosaki-san?" He teased, bidding them a cheerful farewell.

"I can see why you liked him," Ichigo commented as the door closed behind them, watching as she dug out a korokke and bit into it, wiggling in pleasure at the taste. She chewed languorously, before swallowing. Just watching her made him want to try one.

While he had never been very fond of Kabocha pumpkin, and therefore the Kabocha korokke, her reaction had him wondering if it was really that good.

"Mm hmm. Takayama-san has always been rather kind to me. Tatsuki-chan met him once and immediately liked him! His children are a lot like him: complete angels," She answered thickly, swallowing once more. She pulled out one more and was about to bite into it when she noticed Ichigo staring at the flaky piece of food. She offered it to him instead. "Would you like it, Kurosaki-kun?"

He accepted the pastry slowly, his long, callused fingers brushing her small ones accidentally, a spark of electricity racing up her arm.

Startled, she almost dropped the korokke before Ichigo snagged it. Her cheeks flushed and she dropped her gaze to the concrete as she noticed the faintest flicker of smugness deep within his dark brown eyes, which remained focused on her as he ate the Kabocha korokke.

"So, um" she cleared her throat awkwardly. "The burn site is on the way to the dry-cleaners, so we can stop by briefly."

Chewing, he nodded slowly. The korokke really was quite good.

Still embarrassed, they collapsed into a tensed, awkward silence.

* * *

"So this is it, eh?"

Ichigo crossed his arms over his chest as he stared at the remains of what once had been Inoue's apartment. The petite beauty stood next to him with a faint smile on. "Yup, this is it." She agreed, unconsciously beginning to nibble on the cuticle of her thumb. "It looks like they've begun cleaning up, though." Orihime continued, noting the piles of burned debris piled around. "It looked a lot worse than this a few days ago."

Looking at the rubble, Ichigo found that difficult to believe.

"Orihime-san?" A new, feminine voice broke into their conversation and the mentioned female turned to look at the speaker.

"Oh, Shinmura-san! Is something the matter?" Orihime asked cheerfully. The older woman smiled at the energetic young woman motherly and shook her head.

"Iie, I was just wondering if you had found a place to stay? You had mentioned that your friend was out of town a few days ago, so I was naturally worried," The woman spoke, holding her broom loosely in her hand.

Orihime nodded her head happily, gesturing towards the substitute shinigami beside her with a small hand. "Hai, I was. Kurosaki-kun was kind enough to allow me to spend some time with him and his family until Tatsuki-chan can get back," she explained with another beaming smile.

A second later, Ichigo felt the older woman's contemplative stare on him and he stared blandly back. To him, she looked noticeably more fierce than she had when she was talking with his cheerful companion. Finally, grudgingly, he nodded his head in a sort of would-be respectful bow and after a moment of more staring, she finally gave a half-hearted smile to him.

"Well, I've been getting your mail for the last few days, so here it is," she pulled a relatively thick sack of cream envelopes from a pocket in her apron and passed them to the surprised-looking girl.

"Thank you, Shinmura-san!" She thanked, tucking the stack away for safety.

"It's no problem, dear," the woman smiled maternally at the naïve girl before Orihime checked her watch.

"Oh, Kurosaki-kun, we need to get to the dry cleaners before they close today. Bye, Shinmura-san! I'll see you soon!" Then the exuberant girl took Ichigo's hand and tugged him away insistently. Ichigo went along willingly, glad to be away from Shinmura-san and her over-analyzing stare.

After a moment, he realized two things: One, Inoue's hand seemed much more delicate and finely-boned than normal in his larger, callused hand, and two: they were still holding hands.

Despite the fact he was normally the furthest thing from touchy-feely, particularly in public, Ichigo instead decided to weather this so-called injustice and allowed Inoue to keep holding his hand as he trailed behind her obediently.

He felt disappointment run through him seconds later when she realized their hand-holding and dropped his hand rather quickly, immediately stammering out apologies with bright red cheeks.

As they entered the dry cleaners, Ichigo flexed the hand that Inoue had been holding, frowning at the tanned appendage. "You were warm a minute ago, damn it," he muttered venomously to it before shoving it unceremoniously into his pocket.

"Kurosaki-kun?" Orihime's sweet voice broke in and chocolate brown eyes snapped up to meet worried gray. She was a number of inches shorter than him, he realized distantly. In her arms were two or three garment bags and it seemed to dwarf her.

"Here, let me take that," he relieved her of the garment bags, leaving just the pastry bags in her hands. She smiled thankfully at him, cheeks dusted a light pink. "Now what's next on your list?"

"Thank you, Kurosaki-kun!" Orihime chirped brightly. "Well, I'd like to go to the consignment store, but I can just do that tomorrow or the day after when it's not so rainy." Truth be told, she did need the new clothes but she could also tell that Ichigo's patience was beginning to wear thin and she decided to just call it a day for now. "Besides, I'd kind of like to get home and take Livia for a walk." The healer added on quickly, correctly reading Ichigo's face as that of a man who was about to stubbornly refuse going home when all he really wanted to was just that, and cutting him off.

Ichigo caved under her silently pleading gray eyes and hoisted up her clothes. "All right, we can do this again tomorrow or whenever," he grunted, before leading the way outside.

She smiled serenely and followed him outside.

…It was a few steps later that she realized he had said 'we.'

* * *

"Please, Kurosaki-kun?"

Ichigo turned his head to study his Japanese textbook stubbornly, purposefully avoiding Inoue's wide, innocent eyes. He had had sisters long enough to know that that look could bring nothing but trouble. "I'm sorry, Inoue, but no," he repeated, "we are _not_ going to teach your dog how to tap dance."

How this rather odd conversation had started, he wasn't quite sure. But nevertheless, the dog was not learning to tap dance, despite the bambi eyes that Inoue was sending him.

She pouted, crossing her arms underneath her rather impressive bosom. Then, all of a sudden, she brightened.

" Well, what about this!" She exclaimed, raising an index finger into the air. Ichigo stared at her warily, eyebrow cocked. "_We _learn tap dance and then sooner or later Livia-chan will want to join in and she'll learn that way!"

"….No, Inoue," he repeated tiredly, shaking his head to try and get rid of the headache quickly forming between his temples.

… These math problems were _not _agreeing with him.

Finally, with a frustrated sigh, he shoved the half-completed math homework and open textbook away from him and got to his feet. Inoue trailed after, the pout still curving her lips downwards.

"Kurosaki-kun?"

"Yes, Inoue?"

"…Are you mad?" She asked in a small voice.

Surprised, Ichigo paused with his hand on the refrigerator door handle and turned to look at the girl behind him. Big gray eyes shined worriedly up at him. "Of course not," he offered after a moment. "I just forgot how much I hate math and now I have a headache."

" Oh!" She instantly brightened. "Do you want anything? For me, whenever I have a headache-" _She must mean after she smashes her skull into other people, _he decided privately- "I've found that a green tea with wasabi and a little bit of sugar with the peels of tomatoes can help a lot!"

This time Ichigo managed not to squirm with nausea. "No, thank you. I'll get some Advil and be fine."

"Okay," she agreed, still looking worried. "Do you want to sit down?"

Ichigo shook his head. "It's not that bad." He noticed her crestfallen expression, "Okay. Maybe I will sit down for a minute."

She brightened and immediately ushered him to the couch. Somewhat reluctantly, Ichigo sank into the cushioned furniture. Orihime stood before him and clasped her hand together in front of her chest. "Do you want anything, Kurosaki-kun?

He shook his head. "Advil and a banana will do. Thanks."

"Okay!" She practically bounced into the kitchen and reappeared moments later with a bottle of Advil in one hand and a banana in the other. He thanked her before popping two of the pills into his mouth dry. Afterwards, he unpeeled the banana as Orihime stood before him, twiddling her fingers.

"Is something wrong, Inoue?"

She physically jumped, eyes wide before biting her lower lip causing him to stare, despite his best efforts.

"Um, well, Kurosaki-kun…" She trailed.

"Yes?" He prompted after a moment.

She clasped her hands in front of her in a pleading gesture. "Will you _please_ help me teach Livia-chan how to tap dance?"

He sighed. "…Fine."

"That's okay, I can understand. I can try it mys- Eh?"

She looked absolutely stupefied.

"I said fine," he repeated.

Now she positively beamed at her, and he refrained a sigh.

… He was getting _way _too soft.

* * *

" You did _what?"_

"Well, I got Kurosaki-kun some Advil, and I really wanted to help him with his headache, but he seemed kind of irritable, so I didn't want-"

"Before that!"

"The math homework?"

"Back."

"Him carrying my clothes for me?"

"After that!"

"Getting him to agree to help me teach Livia-chan tap dance?"

"Oh…my…god."

"Tatsuki-chan, is something wrong?"

The girl on the other line sounded like she was choking on something. "Is…something…wrong, you say?"

"Um, yes?"

"Orihime, do you even know what it is that you succeeded in doing?"

"Um, no?"

"_You_ just got _Kurosaki Ichigo _to agree to help you with something that he obviously doesn't want to!" _Not to mention doing something that doesn't have a chance in hell of succeeding._

"…Is that good?"

"It's very good!"

"Really?"

"Yes! Orihime, I do believe that Ichigo, as oblivious and stupid as he is, is in love with you."

"Tatsuki-chan!"

"What? I'm just stating the truth. Tell me how he responded when he saw you in the wife beater, shorts and those socks."

"Well… I don't know."

"You don't _know_?"

"Well, no. You see, I haven't actually _worn_ those in front of him yet."

"… Oh. Then you _have _to wear them tonight…do you think you could get a camera stashed somewhere on you when you do so that I can see his reaction myself? Between your boobs might work, I think."

"Tatsuki-chan!!"

* * *

Yes, Orihime decided privately to herself later on with crimson cheeks, Ichigo's reaction was definitely worth seeing.

But she had forgotten about his father, whose reaction, if possible, was even more spectacular.

Isshin had needed a blood transfusion to regain the blood that he had lost upon seeing Orihime in her sleeping attire for the night.

* * *

"…Damn it."

Ichigo rubbed at a tired brown eye with a fist roughly. He bit back a yawn before rolling over groggily to stare blearily at his alarm clock. Deciding with another hidden yawn that he was definitely not going back to sleep with only a half hour until he had to be up anyways, the substitute shinigami climbed out of bed wearily.

Surprisingly, he hadn't been called for hollow duty that much but the image of Inoue in the formfitting black wife beater, a pair of sleeping shorts with some cartoon character he didn't recognize on it and over-the-knee high black and white striped socks was enough to make any healthy teenage boy lose sleep.

He knew for a fact that Inoue had no idea just how badly her sleeping wear last night had affected him and he was more than willing to bet that Tatsuki had been behind the endeavor as Inoue hadn't been able to look him in the face as she had excused herself to the bathroom to change almost immediately after saying goodbye to Tatsuki on the phone.

(Of course, this lead him to wonder why the short-haired Arisawa was suddenly so eager to try and get Ichigo to lose as much blood as possible.

If she had wanted him to die, she could kick his ass until he died from blood loss. Death due to overly attractive nakama wasn't really on his to-do list.)

With a ragged sigh, Ichigo ran his callused hand over his exhausted face once more, stumbling to the bathroom with the intent of a shower.

It was way too early in the morning for this.

* * *

"-and once I tried to put vanilla ice cream and chunks of mango and wasabi sauce, oh, and you can't forget chocolate syrup, and I put these all in a blender and tried to make a smoothie out of it, except I think the mango was too big because when I tried to make a drink out of it, it was too thick and not very smooth. I've always thought that smoothie should be like velvet, but this one was too thick, almost like a handmade afghan-"

Ichigo listened to Orihime's cheerful morning ramble absently, still looking tired with slight bags under his eyes and his orange hair looking noticeably more rumpled than normal, if possible.

"-and my curtains, well, before they were ashes, were all so plain and once I took a paint brush to them in an effort of making them more colorful, but instead I missed and got it all over my walls-"

…_She was still talking? _

"-then Tatsuki-chan and I came up with the idea of putting on a talent show, except we didn't have any money and I didn't want to ask my relatives for fear of seeming greedy-"

_Her relatives? Oh right. _

"Did you call them?" Ichigo asked suddenly. Orihime, temporarily paused in her narrative, blinked at him owlishly.

"Pardon?"

"Your relatives," he explained shortly. "Did you call them to let them know that your staying with me?"

"Oh yes!" She brightened. "I called them my first night staying with you."

He lifted an eyebrow. "And they were okay with it?"

"Well," she began hesitantly. "They were less than pleased, but I think they understood after an explanation. They asked if I wanted to come stay with them but I decided not to as they live kinda far away and I want to go to school here."

Ichigo was curious despite himself. "Really? Where do they live?"

"…Osaka," she answered quietly. His lips pursed in a silent whistle, impressed despite himself.

"Hey! Ichigo! Inoue!"

They turned at their respective names, only to see a harried and more-than-a-little-ticked-off Kuchiki Rukia barreling towards them, one sock half on and a shoe in one hand. As she approached them, she didn't even try slowing down and instead drove straight into Ichigo, her head firmly in his abdomen. She hit him with enough kinetic force behind her to throw Ichigo to the ground rapidly, causing his head to crack hard against the pavement. "Oi, you little midget!" He groaned out before kneading the back of his head, feeling the large bump already swelling there and wincing.

His eyes involuntarily closed for a minute before he fell Rukia's bony knee dig into his side as she got to her feet, sounding perfectly fine by the sound of her voice greeting Inoue, who returned the greeting softly. Only seconds after that, he felt soft strands spill onto his cheekbones and chocolate brown eyes squinted open, only to meet wide, worried gray eyes. "Kurosaki-kun, are you alright?" Her sweet voice was heard asking quietly.

Instinctively, he had to bite back a snarky, biting response and instead flashed her a forced grimace. "Yeah, Inoue. I'm fine." He began to sit up and almost without realizing it, he felt her small hands, one on his shoulder in an effort to help support him and the other prodded at the back of his head in a whisper of a touch while he winced.

"Kurosaki-kun, you should get this checked out. It's getting rather big," she noted worriedly. From off towards the side, Rukia muffled a snicker, marveling once more at the auburn-haired girl's naiveté and judging by Ichigo's suddenly stiff shoulders, he had realized the same thing she had.

"I'm fine, Inoue." His voice had an odd, choked inflection to it and Orihime's eyebrows crumpled deeper in worry but she reluctantly backed off as the Kurosaki clambered to his feet before proceeding to hover like a small mother hen. "And was the tackle really necessary, runt?" He demanded, whirling on the tiny Shinigami in a huff of indignation. Rukia delivered a lightning fast blow to his shin as she passed him in order to continue walking to school and Ichigo crumpled like a wilted flower.

"Kurosaki-kun!" Inoue's panicked voice was heard and the Kuchiki bit back a smirk. Her plan was working.

* * *

When Ichigo and Orihime stumbled into the classroom, the carrot-top was looking noticeably less than pleased. He had already made a vengeful oath against the "violent little brat" and despite herself, Orihime was smiling.

She knew that the chances of him actually doing any permanent harm to the Kuchiki were practically nonexistent. She also knew he wouldn't accept leaning on her shoulder, so she instead took up his books and carried them for him.

" Is it just me or has Kurosaki been injured a lot lately?" Ishida was heard asking Sado in a stage whisper. The gentle giant shrugged noncommittally, dark eyes focused on his nakama, noting the way that Ichigo was being remarkably gentle to the worried Inoue despite his normal brash nature. _But then again, he has always treated Inoue different from everybody else. _

"Nobody likes him," Chizuru butted in jealously, having cut off from her rant about Ichigo corrupting 'her' Hime-chan just long enough to hear Ishida's comment.

"I think Orihime likes him plenty, you overzealous lesbian." A new voice snapped in agitation.

The unorthodox threesome paused, turning to see the newcomer. Arisawa Tatsuki, in all of her tomboy glory, stood there glowering darkly at the red-haired lesbian.

Orihime who had been saying goodbye to Ichigo, suddenly looked up and waved ecstatically before tripping over to her hurriedly.

"Tatsuki-chan!" She greeted, thrilled. Tatsuki smiled sisterly at the slightly taller girl, and nodded, patting her absently on the head as she almost immediately launched into telling her about her morning so far. After a few minutes, Tatsuki cut her off gently and lead her into the hallway to discuss something.

* * *

Ichigo was worried, despite himself.

The entire day at school, Inoue had been silent as the grave, even at lunch. Her gray eyes looked more somber, as if somebody had repeatedly brought up Hueco Mundo to her. Tatsuki, while not as quiet, had been more speculative and he had felt her eyes on him a lot during the day, making him ready to climb the walls after the first hour.

And now, they were walking home, an uncomfortable bubble hanging over their heads. Right about now, Inoue would be halfway through her second ramble, but now she was silent as the grave and her eyes were averted to the ground.

"Are you dying?" he asked her in his normal, ever-so-gentle way.

"Eh?" She asked him bewilderedly, blinking owlishly at him.

"You look like you just got really bad news," he explained with a slight shrug.

"Oh, well, no. I don't think I'm dying," she replied hesitantly, completely missing the fact that he was in no way serious.

"Then what's wrong?"

"It's nothing," she attempted. Ichigo's brown eyes just stared at her knowingly and she deflated. "Alright, well, its something Tatsuki told me."

"Okay…" He trailed warily.

"…Tatsuki-chan's back and wants me to come stay with her from now on."

* * *

Ooooh, cliffhanger.

I usually don't do cliffhangers, so I have no idea how I actually did. But Copper-sama seemed plenty disgruntled, so I'm assuming it was pretty good.

So, um, thanks again so much to those who reviewed, or favorited or put me on their alert! When I realized I hit fifty review, I actually melted into a pile of me in glee.

Thanks again, and I hope you continue to read and review!

-Vampyre Heartbreak


	5. Lilacs

Man, I wish I could marry all of you. I can't believe I got _23_ reviews for last chapter alone.

You guys are incredible. Seriously.

Disclaimer: My owning Bleach is about as likely as George W Bush's head being the right size for his body.

Odd tidbit: the title for this chapter, Lilacs, apparently means 'Do You Still Love Me?'

* * *

"Tatsuki."

After finishing one more jab to the dummy's fleshy padding, a rather sweaty Tatsuki turned to face the shinigami behind her. "Ichigo?"

The orange-haired substitute scowled severely at her, brown eyes flashing agitatedly.

"What the hell are you doing here? I have never seen you down here before. Or this early in the morning, for that matter."

"Why did you do that?" He ignored her question rudely, arms crossed severely over his chest. Tatsuki blinked.

"Do what?

"Tell Inoue to move in with you." His tone was brisk, and still rude.

"Oh." She turned back to the dummy, letting out a combo of blistering attacks. "Why wouldn't I? I mean, her staying with you was only temporary, right? Why are you so irritated? I thought you'd be glad: one less female in the house.

_Well yes, but I actually happen to _like _this female_, was what his mouth desperately wanted to say. He squashed down the urge. "True as that may be, Inoue is also finally settled. 'Sides, I know how your mom feels about pets, and I am _not _holding Livia at my house for Inoue."

"Who?"

"Her mutt."

"Oh right." Tatsuki paused once more in her attacking the punching bag and turned back to face Ichigo, mimicking his aggressive stance. "I'm sure Mom wouldn't mind if Livia was an outside dog. That still doesn't quite explain why you bothered me. Anybody sane knows not to interrupt my morning training." She cracked her knuckles for emphasis, which Ichigo ignored.

_And we both know I'm rather sane, _he thought sarcastically to himself, scowl deepening. _What with the voice in my head and the alter personality and all._

**What was that, princess?** His inner Hollow snarked from the back of Ichigo's mind. As usual, he ignored the voice.

"Do you think its wise to uproot Inoue so soon after she's gotten used to living with me? I mean, we were going to train Livia to ta-" His mouth slammed shut at that suddenly and Tatsuki eyed him knowingly.

"Train Livia to what?" She prompted.

"Nothing." He denied vehemently, a mulish look crossing his tanned features. She shrugged.

"Fine. And why do you care? You never much cared where she lived before. Why start now?" She asked, smirking.

He couldn't very well tell her that it was because he had grown used to Inoue's presence. That he liked seeing her first thing in the morning when the first words out of her mouth were "I didn't kill that banana," and almost incoherent. That he liked seeing her doze off during homework, or walking around in the skimpy shirt and those socks as much as he denied it. That the image of her fast asleep on the couch with Livia tucked under her chin and looking small in the shirt of his that he had never gotten back made his insides churn pleasantly. Or listening to her cheerful rambles in the morning and after school made his day seem a little bit brighter.

Instead, he let out, "Yuzu and Karin like her." It was a lame excuse; he knew it and judging by her smirk, so did Tatsuki.

"Uh huh." The words rang with skepticism, and he mentally cursed his screwed-up mental processes.

"Okay, fine." He surrendered, deciding that it was too early in the morning. "I like having her around, okay?"

The admission hung heavy in the air.

"Good." Before she whirled back around on the dummy, Ichigo caught a distinct flash of satisfaction in her deep blue eyes and something heavy settled in his stomach. Shit. "Orihime can keep living with you, you loser."

It was by sheer strength of will that the word 'Really?' did not leave his lips. He did, however, blink in surprise.

"On one condition." She drawled, voice positively quivering with victory and smugness. The something heavy in his stomach grew, making the once cool room feel much too hot and made it hard for him to breath.

"What is it?" He managed. He knew from personal experience that Tatsuki's conditions had a tendency to be bloody.

"You have to start calling 'Inoue' by her first name."

Ichigo blinked. Compared to some of her past condition, this one was relatively mild. Then it sunk in fully. "You want me to _what_?!"

"Start calling Orihime by her first name, you dunce."

"But-"

"Do it, or I'll come over after school to get her stuff."

"But shouldn't In-_Orihime_," he amended quickly after seeing her menacing glare, "decide if I should call her by her first name?"

Tatsuki snorted. "Oh please. Orihime is way too nice. However, I know for a fact that if you called her by her first name even once, it would make her ridiculously happy."

He wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

"Okay, fine. I'll call In-Orihime by her first name, and in return, she can stay?"

"Yup! Now get the hell out before I turn _you_ into my punching bag."

At her words, Ichigo bolted out of the room.

* * *

Ichigo sat at his desk, head resting on his desk with a steady pounding occurring between his temples. The headache had occurred after a steady pounding of his skull against a wall while he chanted "Why, Why, Why" under his breath like a mantra.

"ICHI-GOOO!"

He inaudibly groaned at Keigo's overly excited voice, tilting his head to glare menacingly at the exuberant man with one narrowed brown eye. "What." It wasn't a question.

Keigo revealed something with a flourish, and he had to blink. "It's the latest _Bad Shield _movie!"

Ichigo just blinked. "So?"

The man before him deflated slightly. "Aren't you excited?"

_Depends. Does excited mean very tired and more than a little irritated and confused? Then yes, I am very "excited."_ Ichigo's voice was ridiculously sarcastic, even in his own head.

"Not really." At those two blunt words, Keigo completely deflated and slunk back to Mizurio, who greeted him with the ever present 'Asano-san."

Glad to be rid of the nuisance, Ichigo tilted his head back down and closed his eyes once more.

His trying to regain sleep was interrupted once more. Though this time, the interrupting was infinitely more pleasurable.

"Kurosaki-kun!"

He cracked an eye to see Orihime rushing towards him in her normal clumsy way, taking out three desks and two classmates in her rush to get over to him. _The government would be lucky to have her as a secret weapon._ "Yes?"

"It turns out that I can't go stay with Tatsuki-chan! She told her mom about Livia-chan, and her mother didn't want to have a dog in the house! So I can continue staying with you!" She panted out, looking flushed and exhilarated. He shot a brief, vaguely amused look at Tatsuki, who was entering the room, as he lifted his head with a yawn. "That is, if you don't mind me staying." She added on after a moment shyly, flushing pink.

"I'm glad to have you, I…Orihime," he assured awkwardly, trying out her name. It rolled off his tongue nicely, he decided. A lot more than 'Inoue.' He could get used to this.

"I'm so gla-" Then abruptly, his usage of her first name sunk in and her blush deepened to an almost maroon.

At this same time, the Afghan war was ended on peaceful terms, the genocide in Darfur was abruptly ended with most sincere apologies, and the Emperor of China bent over the nearest lady and kissed her stupid.

Oh, and global warming was successfully reversed.

Behind the two blushing pair, Tatsuki smirked victoriously, silent over Chizuru and Keigo's ridiculous blustering and sobbing. Ishida had lifted his suddenly wide eyes up from his book, Chad looked the same as ever, and Rukia entered the classroom only to discover that something in it had drastically altered.

"Did somebody die?" She was heard asking a student in the back loudly.

* * *

As the day dragged on, Ichigo discovered that the world was not going to end if he called Orihime by her first name. What would happen is that she would become incredibly flustered and flush all sorts of red. And while he could admit that a flushed, rumpled Orihime would be more than enough to end the world, it hadn't happened yet.

And, secretly, he liked the flustered Orihime.

And despite Chizuru's many threats against him, Tatsuki was always there to cheerfully bash her face in, and leave them to their own devices. Which mainly consisting of Orihime trying to figure out how they would train Livia to tap dance and him listening with rapt attention.

Tatsuki observed from across the room, having casually seated herself down on Ishida's desk like it was own. Strangely enough, the normally stiff Ishida hadn't said a word, though Chad had caught a few lingering glances on Tatsuki's firm thighs. The gentle giant lifted an eyebrow, amused. "Anybody want to take bets?" She remarked calmly.

"On what?" Ishida asked, perplexed.

"How long it takes those two to get together." She jerked a thumb at Ichigo and Orihime.

"No thank you." Ishida refused without any of his normal bite.

Chad considered. "One week."

Ishida did a double-take. Had Chad just bet on his best friend's love life? Apparently so. "I'll match that." he volunteered reluctantly.

"I'll say five days, tops. Losers have to…scream naked through the school." Ishida visibly blanched, while Chad just blinked.

"What do they have to scream?"

Tatsuki pondered. "They have to scream, "I don't believe in Buddha and I'm going to rule the world!"

"That's the best you can come up with?" Ishida scoffed, scornful. Her eyes narrowed challengingly at him.

"You think you could do better, pretty boy?" She countered.

"Yes, I do believe I can." He agreed, pushing his glasses up his nose. "Do you know Takahashi Aido?"

"Of course I do." Takahashi Aido was the biggest jock in school, and a complete asshole to boot. It was also well-known that he wanted Orihime to be his girlfriend. "What about him?"

"Loser has to run naked through the school, screaming "I want to have Takahashi Aido's babies."" Ishida supplied with a barely-there smirk. Tatsuki blinked, turning to look at Sado.

"That's actually really good," she commented dazedly. She hadn't thought that stick-in-the-mud Ishida could have done so well. Sado agreed with a quiet murmur. Recovering herself, she hopped off of the desk and stretched. Before walking off, she added on smoothly, "And I'm looking forward to seeing you streak, Ishida. It will be a sight to behold." With that and a quiet chuckle, she departed.

Sado turned to the Quincy, only to see his usually pale cheeks stained bright red and his eyes rather wide as he followed the Arisawa until she left the room. A slight smile curved the Mexican's lips.

Romance was most definitely in the air at Karakura High.

* * *

As Ichigo had predicted, Isshin's reaction to the news that I-Orihime was going to continue staying them was over the top, exuberant, and his tears would forever stain the carpet.

It started with him beginning to weep grotesquely big, fat tears, before flinging himself onto the worried, yet utterly bewildered girl in a brisk, though smothering hug before taking a look at his scowling son and ended with him throwing himself onto the picture of his wife, bawling like a baby before sniffling out that Orihime would now be considered a Kurosaki.

At this point, Ichigo escorted Orihime up the stairs with Livia on their heels, even if they didn't have to start on homework for a while yet. Upstairs was the safest place to be when his father was in one of his moods.

As soon as they entered Ichigo's room, Rukia popped out of his closet. "Took ya long enough." She drawled.

"Dad." He grunted as an answer and she nodded, completely understanding. "And what are you doing in my closet? You do realize you have a bed, don't you?"

"Nostalgia's sake."

Orihime blinked, utterly confused. "Nostalgia? Did you live in his closet before?" She asked, eyebrows furrowed.

Rukia nodded. "The first time I was here. I slept in Ichigo's closet."

"Oh, um, okay," she replied confusedly, gray eyes saying that she desperately wanted to ask why but didn't want to come off as rude.

"I was staying here without his family knowing," Rukia supplied thoughtfully with a slight smile.

"Oh!" Orihime brightened with a smile. "That sounds rather…" She searched for a word.

"Rude?" Ichigo butted in with a grunt from behind her. She merely smiled at his back.

"Awkward." She supplied instead, her tone sincere.

Rukia grinned. "I was fine with it, but this idiot was noticeably less so."

Ichigo merely grunted noncommittally, not wanting a repeat of yesterday morning. While he listened with half an ear to Rukia and Orihime's conversation, he proceeded to try and wrestle one of his shoes from Livia, who fought back with every fiber of her small body, her long whip-like tail thrashing ecstatically from side to side. "Let it go, you stupid mutt." He muttered under his breath, almost baring his teeth in frustration.

"Kurosaki-kun, do you need help?" Orihime's voice asked, while some of her silky hair spilled over her shoulder and brushed the side of his neck. He merely glanced at her, looking faintly exasperated. She smiled slightly, before fixing her mischievous dog with a stern look.

It looked odd on a girl who was almost always smiling.

"Livia, drop it." The command was firm, with no room for arguing, and the puppy immediately released his slimy, gnawed on shoe before darting under his bed in search of Kon. Ichigo had to blink at the firmness of Orihime's voice. He hadn't known such a thing was possible. "There you are, Kurosaki-kun!" She told him cheerfully, brushing past him to pick up his shoe and hand it to him. He grimaced slightly at the slimy shoe, but took it from her.

"Thanks," he told her gruffly. She beamed at him cheerfully, a fine dusting of pink settling on her cheeks.

The moment was broken by Kon's shrill scream as he bolted from under Ichigo's bed and across the room before running into Ichigo's closed door and falling over. Livia was immediately upon him with a shrill, excited yap.

A corner of Ichigo's lips twitched "I may have to switch to a religion of your dog, Orihime."

* * *

"Son of a _bitch_."

Ichigo let out a vivid oath as he swung Zangetsu down onto the skull mask of a fishy Hollow, parting it with ease. Before the Konso had even finished, he was whirling around to block the talons of another Hollow. It took him only seconds to dispatch of this one, and he was finally allowed a brief break as he sagged tiredly against Zangetsu.

"What is with all of these stupid freaking Hollows?" He grumbled to himself under his breath, wiping at his sweaty forehead. All he wanted to do was get home and do his homework before eating dinner and talking with Orihime, but all of these Hollows kept him from doing that.

"Kurosaki-kun?" That oh-so-familiar, sweet voice broke into his dark thoughts and brown eyes darted over to see the girl who he had been thinking about standing on the sidewalk. Gray eyes watched him, immediately flitting over his body to check and catalogue any possible injuries. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Just busy. What're you doing out here?" He asked, slinging Zangetsu back over his back, fully blinded. She smiled cheerfully and held up some bags that he hadn't previously noted.

"Yuzu-chan was missing some things for dinner, so I offered to buy them for her." She explained brightly, walking over towards him. "Are you on your way home, now?"

Ichigo briefly tested the air for any signs of Hollows. "Uh, yeah, I guess. Let me just get back in my body."

"Okay," she agreed immediately with another smile.

It didn't take long for Ichigo to get back into his own body and meet Orihime, who had taken to studying the stars. He also realized that she had pulled her hair back into a low ponytail, which was something he hadn't seen before. Even during phys ed when other girls pulled their hair back, she had kept her hair down.

It made her look older to him.

"Are you looking for something?" He asked out of curiosity, noticing the look of rapt attention on her face. Orihime jumped, rapidly snapping out of it as she looked at him with wide eyes.

"Not really. But ever since I found out where my name came from, I've always thought it would be nice to be able to locate my star in the sky." She confessed shyly.

"Have you ever had any luck?" He asked, curious.

"Onii-chan helped me find it once, but I haven't been able to since." She answered with a soft smile. "But I can find Orion the hunter with no problem!" She brightened after a moment.

Ichigo lifted an eyebrow, amused. "Really? Where is he?"

"Right there!" She pointed, waiting until Ichigo's brown eyes looked up towards the map of the stars, before tracing the constellation out deftly. He resisted the urge to smile at her cheerfulness.

"Do you like astronomy, Orihime?" He asked her curiously.

"Oh, yes!" She beamed, hurrying to match his longer stride as they walked home. "That's partially why I'd like to become an astronaut, though as Kuchiki-san pointed out to me, it would probably get very lonely up there."

He had to fight back a smile at the dejected tone in her voice. "Well, I've heard that astronauts actually don't spend that much time up in space. It's mostly down here."

"Really?"

"Really." He confirmed.

She grinned a little wider at that. During this conversation, they approached the Kurosaki household, and Ichigo politely held the door open.

Just before she was fully in the door, Ichigo touched her arm briefly. "Hey, Orihime?" She turned to him curiously. "Your star is right there." He pointed to the correct star with an unseen soft smile.

* * *

Ichigo crept silently down the hallway in search of a midnight snack. He was by now used to staying up way past everyone else to finish his homework, due to all of the Hollow-slaying he had to do. And Rukia was also busy, he knew from the bruise on his other shin, with the Hollows.

He forced himself not to go check on the slumbering brunette on the couch, instead walking on by it to the kitchen.

Which, he discovered, already had an occupant.

Orihime was sitting on the counter with a bowl of ice cream in her lap, wearing only skimpy little shorts and his shirt with her hair loose and over her shoulder, while for once her hairpins weren't present in the auburn strands. The spoon full of ice cream paused on its way to her mouth, as she stared in surprise at Ichigo. "Kurosaki-kun? What're you doing up?" She asked curiously in a hushed tone.

He almost smiled. "I could ask you the same thing."

She lifted the spoon full of ice cream before she plopped it daintily into her mouth. "Midnight snack." She swallowed the cold treat.

"Same here."

She blinked, suddenly noticing that he had yet to change into his sleeping clothes. "Kurosaki-kun, have you gone to sleep yet?" She asked worriedly, eyebrows furrowing.

"Nope. Still doing homework," he answered, voice sounding muffled as he began to dig through the fridge in search of something to eat.

"Do you want help?"

"Nah. I'm almost done."

"Well, alright." Her tone was reluctant and she dug into her ice cream sundae with gusto.

"Have you seen the chocolate syrup?" He asked a moment later, having decided that an ice cream sundae sounded rather good. Orihime flashed a guilty look down at the empty chocolate syrup by her.

"Well, I actually used up the last bit of it," she answered reluctantly, biting her lip. Ichigo was amused, judging by his lifted eyebrow as he poked his head over the edge of the refrigerator door. Her cheeks were pink, and she was focusing quite intently on the bowl in her hands. "But if you want, I can give you some of mine!" She offered after a moment, smiling. "I mean, there really wasn't a lot left to begin with, but I'd be willing to give you mine!"

"That's not necessary, Orihime." He assured him, earning a pout.

"Are you sure? I feel bad now. I wasn't really expecting anyone else, otherwise I would have left you some."

"Really. It's fine. I think we have some caramel. That'll be fine." He went to the pantry and pulled out the caramel syrup before pulling it open.

"Oh. Well, in that case, could you please pass me the bottle once you've finished using it?" She asked shyly, earning a brief nod from Ichigo as he finished thoroughly dousing his ice cream in the sticky light brown syrup before passing it to the Rikka-user. She smiled thankfully at him before pouring it into her own bowl.

He watched her pour, noting distantly that her sundae for once actually looked normal. Then his attention was abruptly arrested by the drop of caramel that she traced off of the bottle nozzle with her finger, before sticking her finger into her mouth gleefully. Feeling lobotomized, he couldn't help but stare as she sucked on the digit idly, making sure she got all of the caramel off her finger.

He swallowed thickly, and suddenly became hyperaware of just how close they were. Orihime was sitting on the counter next to the silverware drawer, and he had had to cross the kitchen to the silverware drawer in order to get a spoon. He paused with his hand still in the drawer, finding his body difficult to move at the moment.

**Come on, kingy. All you have to do is 'accidentally' move your hand two inches to the right, and you can feel the skin on her thigh… **His hollow's slimy voice broke into his thoughts, as Ichigo could practically see the disgusting grin on his face as he attempted to coax his King into fondling his nakama.

And the worse thing is that he was seriously tempted to do so.

"Kurosaki-kun? Are you okay?" She asked, breaking into his mental debating. He blinked, turning his head to look at her, and finally realizing just how beautiful this girl was. Her big gray eyes were framed by thick, long black lashes, and were currently filled with worry for him. Her cheeks were stained bright red from their closeness, though she was still studying him.

Then his gaze fell to her lips against his will. They were pink and plump and moist from her constant licking of them, and slightly parted as she breathed quickly. He moved closer, by now no longer in control of his own actions. "Kurosaki-ku-" She was suddenly cut off by the sensation of his lips pressing softly, but firmly against her own.

She immediately stiffened, eyes widening against the unexpected feeling, but as she felt his lips gliding over her own hesitantly, she instantly melted, eyes sliding shut.

Distantly he realized that he was later going to regret kissing Orihime, right now, logic was the furthest thing from his mind as he felt Orihime begin to tentatively respond, opening her lips to him, allowing him to delve into the hot, wet cavern of her mouth. He stepped closer, stepping between her legs as his long fingers inadvertently dug softly into her auburn tresses. He nipped on her lower lip as a test, and she gasped, her mouth opening wider. After putting down her ice cream, her cold hand made their way up his arms to rest uncertainly on his shoulder, which were scorching underneath his shirt.

As their tongues dueled for dominance, which he won easily, he leaned closer, feeling her soft bosom press against his hard chest as she positively melted under his careful ministrations.

She tasted sweet, an odd mix of the chocolate and caramel sundae and something else, maybe mango? He swallowed her soft whimper, feeling her fingers thrum nervously against his shoulder, and with an effort he pulled away from Orihime, watching as her dazed smoky gray eyes opened slowly, finding him after a moment. Her fingers fell into her lap, while she swallowed tightly meeting his darkened, passion-filled chocolate brown eyes.

He wasn't sorry. "I should go," he mumbled under his breath, turning and going before the image of a flushed Orihime with kiss-bruised lips and surprised, darkened gray eyes was seared into his memory.

His ice cream lay forgotten on the counter as he practically fled upstairs, leaving Orihime to fight back tears, biting her lips fiercely.

* * *

Heh heh. I thought my Beta-chan was going to kill me for the way I ended it. But I couldn't help it; it was too priceless.

And I'm surprised that not one person thought that Orihime moving in with Tatsuki was just a ploy by Tatsuki. I had thought it was rather obvious.

But oh well. I hope you guys like this chapter!

Thanks again to all of my reviewers, and those who favorited or put this on their alerts! It means so much to me!

Dare I ask for you to review again? -bambi eyes-

-Vampyre Heartbreak


	6. Y E L L O W T U L I P S

-flails arms-

Is...Is this what you think it is? OH YES IT IS. AWIP 6 is _finally _in da house!!

I hope this is as good as I think it is. I've been working my butt off for the last several months (like...eight?) to get this done, but it seemed very insistent on not being completed. O.o

But I persevered and here it is. This is more fluff than funny, but I don't think you guys'll care. ;D

Oh, and...THIRTY EIGHT reviews for chapter five?! Really? You guys are amazing.

Unbeta'd...currently. I sent this to my amazing wife _Copper_, but she's busy (probably with work...) and hasn't gotten back to me, and I couldn't wait. XD So forgive any spelling errors, yeah?

Disclaimer applied.

P.S. 'Yellow Tulips' means 'hopelessly in love.'

* * *

The dull _crunch _of knuckles hitting cheekbone seemed to echo in the large room, as the force of Tatsuki's punch shoved Ichigo back up against the wall. Crumpling to the ground, he spat out a mix of saliva and blood and onto the mat and then gingerly prodded a couple of teeth inside his mouth, determining that they were indeed very loose, and wincing. "Get up, idiot. I'm not done kicking your ass."

Tatsuki cracked her knuckles threateningly above him, and he briefly debated just staying down but eventually decided that her beating of him would be that much worse. Trying to ignore the way his ribs were creaking in a way that was distinctly _not good_, Ichigo climbed to his feet, only to have Tatsuki shove her knee viciously into his abdomen, and he buckled to the ground, gasping. "Is this all you can take? Get _up _you bastard." She snapped, arms crossed defiantly.

Ichigo clambered to his feet once more, wiping away a trail of blood from his chin with the back of his hand. He lifted his hands defensively. "Look, I know you're mad that I kissed Orihime-"

Tatsuki, who had already pulled back her fist in yet another attempt to shatter his face, paused, confused as her eyebrows furrowed. "Why would I be mad about that?"

He gaped at her. "You're not mad?"

"No. Why would I be?"

Temporarily forgetting that he was in a fair amount of pain, Ichigo stared back at her, his scowl deepening in his confusion. "Because…I kissed… Orihime?" He answered haltingly, bewildered.

_Now _her fist slammed into his face with all the force of a wrecking ball behind it. Ichigo crumpled like a wilted flower, clutching his nose. "I'm not mad about that, you fucking retard!" Tatsuki's voice carried through the otherwise empty dojo, and Ichigo winced yet again.

After gently prodding his nose to determine that it was still attached, though dislocated, Ichigo grasped it, and with the exact amount of force that only somebody whose had to pop noses back into socket a lot, wrenched it back into place with a merciless twist. "So…what _are _you mad about?"

Tatsuki tensed for a fraction of a second, and her responding kick to his already sore abdomen was so fast, he didn't even see it coming. "I'm pissed that you _left_ her there, you bastard!"

Resembling a fish with his open mouth, Ichigo was able to take in several gasping breaths, "Oh."

Tatsuki saw red. "Oh? OH!?" She practically bellowed into his face, blue eyes nearly black with rage.

Ichigo flinched back. "Look, I'm sorry that I left her there, okay? I hadn't meant to leave her! It just kinda…happened."

Tatsuki took several shuddering breaths, still looking like she wanted to paint her room red with his blood. "And, pray tell, why did it "just happen?"" She quoted bitterly. Ichigo shivered.

Brrr…did it just get cold in here?

"I freaked alright? She was confused, hell, I was confused. I just bolted."

Another shuddering breath. "Do you regret it?"

"What?"

"I _said_, do you regret it? Make me say it again, and it'll be coming with another punch," she snapped angrily.

He didn't even think about it. "No."

She nodded, looking marginally calmer. A moment went by before she spoke once more, "You will apologize."

"For what?!" Ichigo knew he had to apologize, but he certainly didn't want _Tatsuki _reminding him of this.

Her stormy blue eyes snapped open, and without answering, she stuck her face so close to his that there was barely an inch between them. "For being a coward and leaving her alone like that. For being too much of a pussy to act like you've got a pair and ask her out. For being a complete asshole. Take your pick," she practically hissed at him. Swiftly, she rocked her weight to the balls of her feet and rose, spinning away quickly.

"And besides, if you don't ask her out, then I will have to give Aido the impression that I like him, and he's too bony to be a good punching bag."

To say he was confused would have been like saying that Keigo was only a _little _gay.

He was so beyond that, he wasn't sure up was down anymore.

Deciding that he was dwell on what Tatsuki' baffling statement could possibly mean at a later point when his head didn't feel that it was being the ball in a racquetball match, Ichigo clambered slowly to his feet, looking around for his bookbag. _I think it wound up over there by the do-_

A knee to his stomach caused him to drop.

Tatsuki cracked her knuckles. "Did I say that we were done?"

* * *

Thirty seconds to the bell, Ichigo stumbled through the door. On his way to his desk, Tatsuki was pleased to see him drop a tightly folded note onto the absent-looking Orihime's desk before retreating quietly to his desk.

* * *

Orihime stared down at the heads of her classmates, feeling nervousness flutter in her stomach. Ichigo's note from earlier had told her to meet him on the other side of the roof during lunch.

_Maybe he's going to confess! _She thought, eyes brightening. Already, her mind began to wonder on what kind of metal his robot head would be made of, whether he would have laser eyes or not, and if his fingers were detachable projectiles.

"Orihime?" Ichigo's voice came from behind her. She yelped, spinning around, eyes wide, half expecting to see a bronze, gleaming Ichigo with laser eyes and no hands. After a moment, she realized that it was human Ichigo and not robot Ichigo, who had fought the purple stuffed hippos. "Robots again?" Ichigo asked knowingly.

She warmed expectedly and she didn't answer. They fell into an awkward silence for several minutes for several long minutes.

"Orihime, I'm sorry-"

"Ichigo-kun, I-"

They paused when they both began to try and talk at the same time and smiled uncertainly at each other momentarily.

Then she cocked her head. "What are you apologizing for, Ichigo-kun?"

Badboy image temporarily on hold, Ichigo couldn't help but gape at her, blinking owlishly at her. "The-The kiss?" He offered, almost like a question.

She flushed again. "Oh." Studying her, he couldn't help but notice that she didn't look saddened, instead she looked…pleased. Cheeks still tinted, she looked up at him, beaming.

"There's no reason to apologize, Ichigo-kun! I enjoyed it!"

The orange-haired substitute shinigami had trouble picking his jaw up off the floor. "But-But, it was against your will…"

She looked confused. "It wasn't against my will. I kissed you back, remember?"

He remembered. Vividly. "Well, yeah, but I thought-"

"You thought what?" She looked curious.

"Stockholm syndrome," he mumbled, almost sheepish. When Orihime didn't respond, he glanced up at her, only to see the strangest expression on her face. It was a mix between looking like she was about to start laughing and like she wanted to hug him.

"Well, I don't have Stockholm Syndrome," she assured him warmly.

"…Oh," he mumbled once more, feeling stupid. "So what were you going to say, Orihime?"

"I was going to apologize," she told him, looking remarkably composed despite the fact that her slim fingers were fiddling with the hem of her skirt.

"Apologize? For what?" His bewilderment made him brusque, though she took no offense.

"Well, because I wasn't very good," she explained, cheeks warming in embarrassment.

"What do you mean?"

"The kissing," she offered sheepishly. "You ran away rather unexpectedly, so I thought that I hadn't been very good."

"No, Orihime. You were fine. I was the screw-up." He responded with a shrug.

She smiled uncertainly. "Oh. Well, for what it's worth, I enjoyed it very much." She flushed all sorts of bright red, biting down on her lip fiercely as her gray eyes averted downward. The twiddling with her skirt hem increased threefold.

Unsure of how to respond to that, Ichigo merely looked contemplative, before extending his hand to her. Pausing in her twiddling, she looked up at his hand and briefly examined the multiple scars on his tanned, broad hand, lined with multiple calluses. As her flush darkened to an almost magenta, she slipped her small hand into his, which tightened slightly around it.

"So," he cleared his throat awkwardly, "I'm going to this trail of lights thing on Saturday, and I have enough money to buy a ticket for this girl with gray eyes…"

After a moment of staring at him uncomprehendingly, her smile, like a thousand suns, suddenly made his world just a bit brighter. "What time?"

He smirked. "I'll pick you up."

Then her forehead creased slightly. "But what about your family? We'd said we'd go with them."

He arched an eyebrow, unconcerned. "We'll go twice."

Her eyes lit up. "Are you sure?"

"You want to go, right?" She nodded emphatically. "Then yeah, I'm sure."

Her gray eyes sparkling, she stared up at him with worship in her expression.

* * *

When the pair walked into the circle hand in hand, it spawned several overly dramatic responses. Keigo burst into loud tears, sniffling and calling out incomprehensible words, threw himself at their feet, trying to grasp at Orihime's ankles, until Ichigo kicked at his wrist. Afterwards, he curled into the fetal position, sobbing mindlessly.

Chizuru, on the other hand, proceeded to climb onto the railing, wailing something about leaving the cruel, cruel world that wouldn't let her have her Hime-chan. After swearing that she would jump, she was abruptly cut off by Tatsuki's tackle which caused her to crack her skull on the roof.

Their lunch was remarkably quiet that day. Though that didn't stop Orihime from explaining to the very dazed Chizuru (who was suddenly very insistent on the fact that she was a purple bunny with sparkles coming out of her ears and that she was late for a very important date with a penguin) that their relationship wasn't 'like that.'

* * *

"Ooooh, I don't know what to wear!" Orihime exclaimed, staring down at her clothes, which were in a small closet that Isshin had been kind enough to clean out. She bit her lip.

"Orihime, relax. This is the idiot. I'm relatively certain that you could wear a trash bag with boxes for shoes, and he wouldn't notice," Tatsuki assured the nervous wreck through the phone. "Even though I don't think it'll be very warm, if at all." She added on as an afterthought, sounding thoughtful.

"Tatsuki-chaaan!"

"Alright, alright," she laughed. "It's cold out, so I don't suggest a skirt. Wear those jeans Rangiku got you, and your light lilac shirt. The one that hangs off one shoulder, and has the long sleeves. Grab the gray sweater also." Tatsuki recommended in her normal tactful way, the smirk audible in her voice. "And besides, if this isn't an official date, why are you so stressed?"

"Well, I…" Orihime trailed nervously. "I-I-I mean that I just want to look nice for Ichigo-kun! I don't want to look overdressed but I don't want him to think I'm a slob either!"

"Orihime, trust me, a slob is the last thing Ichigo thinks about you," Tatsuki assured, sounding amused at her friend's embarrassing dilemma. The auburn-haired girl, silent, proceeded to turn a vivid red even as she proceeded to change into the clothes her best friend had told her to wear.

"O-Okay, if you think so…" Orihime sounded doubtful, and Tatsuki rolled her eyes.

A knock at the door interrupted them. "Orihime, you ready to go?" Ichigo's voice called from the other side of the door.

"Um, y-yes!" Orihime felt her nerves begin to quake even as Tatsuki's chuckle grew.

"I'll let you go. Have fun getting your first kiss _again,_" the karate master insinuated bluntly, before disconnecting the phone. Orihime's 'Tatsuki-chaaan' came a second too late, even as she placed the phone on the cabinet to pull on the shirt and sweater. Smoothing down her hair, Orihime took a quick glance in the mirror to make sure she didn't have any smears of red bean paste and chocolate on her face before picking up the phone and throwing open the door, only to run nose first into the broad, hard chest of Ichigo.

Reeling back, she would have crashed into the door frame as Ichigo not caught her. "You alright?"

Feeling warm, she blurted out some semi-coherent response, earning an amused eyebrow raise from her crush. "I'll take that as a yes," he told her, sounding vaguely amused as he guided her down the stairs, hand on the small of her back. Feeling rather warm, she couldn't help but notice that Ichigo, too, had deigned not to wear his normal clothing. Instead, he was wearing a plain, off-white shirt with a black skull on it and a black jacket. _Leather? _She wondered. He wore a pair of worn jeans that seemed on the verge of ripping at the knees.

"Yo, old man. We're leaving," Ichigo addressed his father in his normal loving way. Isshin spun in an undoubtedly flamboyant move and bounded to them, sweeping Inoue into a bear hug. She squeaked, fingers twitching nervously.

"Be careful with my Hime-chan, you hear?!" Isshin demanded of his son even as he spun in circles.

"Stupid old man, let her go!" Ichigo snapped, yanking out a hand to grab his dad's shoulder, stopping the twirling. "You'll make her sick!" Orihime did indeed look a little green even as she stumbled away from Isshin, nearly colliding with Ichigo's shoulder in her dizziness. Ichigo grasped her small shoulder to keep her from tripping over her own two feet. Muttering something profane about his idiot of his father, he pushed the auburn-haired healer towards the front door gently before following.

They took a moment to slip on their shoes before leaving.

* * *

"Oh, Ichigo-kun! Look at the lights!"

Orihime's cry drew the attention of several onlookers as she darted to the makeshift railing, a chain threaded through poles, and grasped it. She leaned over as much as she could, the lights of the attraction flickering in her oh so gray eyes. Her expression was enraptured, mouth ever so slightly open in amazement. Ichigo walked up behind her at a more sedate pace, hands shoved into his pockets.

"Pretty," he agreed halfheartedly, eyeing the attraction, a cartoonish scene with characters he recognized vaguely from childhood lit up in various colors and with light music playing loudly.

After another second or two of examining the attraction, Orihime moved on to the next one across the way, letting out another ecstatic exclamation. Ichigo followed behind her once more, content to watch her be happy over some lights and music.

Halfway through the trail, the cold had efficiently wormed its way through both of their jackets and Ichigo had decided to buy both of them hot chocolates, despite Orihime's many attempts to turn it down. But eventually, the smell of the drink, which Ichigo had been kind enough to dress up in chocolate sprinkles and whipped cream with vanilla flavoring, had caused her attempts to become more and more feeble before she finally accepted it, pink in the face.

Then they split a funnel cake, flaky and warm and practically drowned in powdered sugar, though Ichigo only had a little bit after Orihime had used those gray eyes of her's and somehow had gotten him to agree to let her smother the Western confection in bean paste and wasabi sauce. The end effect was a vile-looking confection that Orihime wolfed down with gusto. The image of her licking her fingers clung to the back of his eyelids for the rest of the night.

"That was yummy! Thank you, Ichigo-kun!" She chirped, incredibly cheerful as she blinked over the edge of her saliva-slick fingers. Momentarily distracted, Ichigo took a moment to respond before fumbling for an answer that didn't come.

"Welcome," he finally grunted gruffly before standing and dusting the powdered sugar off of his broad hands. He extended a hand down towards her. "Ready to continue? We haven't gotten to your rainbow yet."

She stared down at his hand for a moment as her cheeks slowly darkened to the omnipresent pink. "You remembered?" She asked shyly, full lips curling up in a sweet smile. He blinked, mystified.

"'Course I did. I remember everything you've told me," he told her, slightly surprised even as he wiggled his fingers slightly. Her blush darkened, even as she slipped her hand into his. Wrapping his long fingers around her hand, he tugged her gently to her feet as he tossed the destroyed remains of what could have been a tasty snack away. "C'mon, there's still a lot of ground to cover." Feeling strangely embarrassed, he dropped her hand and stuffed his own appendage back into the free pocket.

Not seeming to notice his embarrassment, Orihime bounced ahead, auburn hair swinging behind her. It was clear that she was ecstatic to be here, though he had caught the occasional wistful moments whenever she paused to examine an obviously familiar light scene. Watching as her expression grew somber and then almost longing as she looked at a bunch of kids all posing in wooden thrones for the cameras of their parents, grinning cheekily and with varying amounts of food products on their face.

Walking up beside her, his arm brushed her's in silent comfort. "My brother brought me here when I was little," she explained softly, eyes downcast. "He snapped a picture of me with this flashing headband with reindeer antlers on it, and told me it was his favorite picture ever. Shortly after that, I lost the headband and never found them." She told him softly, tone wistful.

Comfort was not Ichigo's forte, and awkward words tangled on his tongue and he stayed quiet, rubbing his arm against her again in silent comfort. "I'll…be right back, okay?" He asked her quietly. She hummed an equally quiet response even as she continued to watch the young children clambering over the wooden thrones. Ichigo walked away from her side slowly, having caught the flashing out of the corner of his eye.

Only a few moments later, a cheap reindeer headband with bright red flashing lights was placed clumsily onto her head, mussing up her long light brown hair that promptly became flyaways. "Neh? Ichigo-kun?" She blinked owlishly up at him, as she immediately reached up to try and smooth down the few strands that were blowing wildly in the wind.

He shrugged, trying to seem casual. "Not sure if its exactly the same, but its close enough, right? And these have music." He tugged lightly on one of the prongs of the antlers to prove his point.

Her eyes lit up even as her cheeks darkened drastically. She reached up to feel the rough material of the dark brown antlers curiously, though she didn't take it off. "Thank you, Ichigo-kun!" She chirped, spontaneously throwing her arms around him in an exuberant hug. Surprised, Ichigo barely kept himself from stumbling back, though he quickly righted himself before patting her awkwardly on the back. "Itsmmkay," he mumbled sheepishly under his breath, feeling a hot flush creep up his neck uncomfortably.

A moment later, her thin arms released him and he realized, a moment after she had begun to tug him down the walkway to see more lights, his hand wound up being interlinked with her's.

And he didn't have the heart to drop her grasp this time.

* * *

A wistful sigh escaped Orihime's full lips as she stared contentedly at the glowing, flashing rainbow. "Isn't it pretty, Ichigo-kun?"

Standing beside her with their hands still connected, Ichigo merely stared apathetically at the cheery little rainbow, which flickered steadily over the light river, accompanied with rushing water sounds. "Hn," he agreed vaguely. It wasn't the best attraction he'd seen so far (his personal favorite had been the lights strung up in the trees at the beginning), but he could definitely see why Orihime treasured this one so much. It was a light cheery one, and while the rainbow was lacking a color, it was colorful and seemed like something that she would very much enjoy.

The flickering lights reflecting in her big gray eyes, Orihime leaned forward, looking wistful and cheerful and sad but happy. This girl was a master of the contradictions, he mused absently. Sensing that this was not a conversation moment, Ichigo kept his mouth shut, as he waited while Orihime mused on her deceased brother. After a few minutes of watching the flickering lights in Orihime's so very gray eyes, she finally turned to him and the smile she offered him was brave, though still wistful. "Are you ready to continue on, Ichigo-kun?" She asked him, now looking faintly tired.

He blinked. "Sure, if you are." They were almost at the end of the trail, he could tell. Clear in the distance was the tall, light tree that spiraled to easily four stories into the air. If he remembered correctly, the tree served as the end of the trail and people were allowed to spin and twirl under it until they vomited. In other words, it sounded like something Orihime loved to do.

She smiled again, tiredly. "Of course I am."

Kindly, Ichigo didn't comment on her sudden lack of energy. He understood, after all. Thinking on one's dead family member exhausted oneself mentally, and thus physically. Instead, he placed his hand on the small of her back once more, he guided her along the path. This time, they paused only for short bursts at the rest of the impressive light set ups.

In what seemed like no time, they found themselves at the part that led into the tree. Now Orihime brightened, eyes lighting up as she seized Ichigo's hand once more and tugged him forward as she quickened her pace. "Oh, this is so much fun, Ichigo-kun! You must spin with me!" She gushed, turning slightly to beam at him and nearly running towards the spiraling light tree. Ichigo stumbled along behind her, easily keeping up with her pace due to his long legs.

In what seemed like no time, he was peering up at the spiraling lights, feeling a sense of vertigo as he did so. As he continued to study the top, he felt small hands grasp his and tug him, before rapidly beginning to spin him. After nearly tripping over his feet for a few seconds, Ichigo quickly gathered his feet underneath him and grudgingly allowed himself to be lead in a circle by the almost giddy Orihime, feeling ridiculous.

Within a few minutes, his stomach was telling him to stop and he stumbled off to a hay bale, watching with a faintly green face as Orihime tilted her head back and spun in small, tight circles, laughing ecstatically as she did so. However, even a few minutes later, Orihime collapsed next to him, not looking queasy but winded and exhilarated. Her bright auburn hair was windblown and clinging to her flushed face. Her lips were slightly parted as she gasped in short breaths, gray eyes almost silver with joy.

"Oh, Ichigo-kun! This is so much fun!" She gushed breathlessly, and he gave her an almost smile.

"Glad to have helped, Orihime," he replied gruffly, feeling embarrassed by her obvious thankfulness. She studied him for a moment, looking almost wistful before smiling, tucking hair behind her ear. Dusting the stalks of hay off of her, she stood up. Smiling once last time at him, she almost danced back to where she was almost directly under the peak of the tree before slowly beginning to twirl once more.

"_And besides, if you don't ask her out, then I will have to give Aido the impression that I like him, and he's too bony to be a good punching bag."_

A brief image of Tatsuki appeared in his mind, foot tapping and arms crossed, looking angry. Feeling a corner of his lips quirking up sardonically, Ichigo got to his feet before dusting off his own jeans. Eyes narrowing in determination, he proceeded to cross over to where Orihime was still swirling in circles. Reaching out, he grasped the petite, fragile girl by her elbow gently, stopping her movements.

Pausing, she blinked those big almost-silver eyes at him. "Ichigo-kun? Is something wrong?" She looked concerned now, twisting her body to face him. Silent, Ichigo shook his head. She opened her mouth, probably to ask another question, but stopped when he slid his hand into her tousled hair, cupping the back of her head gently.

He slowly pulled her to him, pressing his lips to her's softly. Obviously surprised, Orihime was frozen for only a split second before responding as her own thin arms wrapped around his neck, pulling him closer. Her lips tasted like powdered sugar still from the funnel cake and Ichigo deepened the kiss.

It was a chaste kiss and he pulled away after a few minutes, smirking down at her flushed face. "Better?"

Looking dazed, eyes bright, she nodded, silent.

"Good." he dropped his hands from her cheeks, looking smug and pleased.

"Oh dear."

They both froze at the almost girly squeal, riddled with shock. Their eyes met, as they recognized that almost squeak anywhere. Slowly, they twisted to Keigo there with Ryo, of all people. Keigo already had tears flowing down his face while Ryo only had an eyebrow quirked in vague amusement.

"Oh shit."

* * *

When they got home, Isshin was standing there at the phone, saying, "She should be back soon."

Then he said them, and proceeded to change his mind. "Here Hime-chan, its for you," he handed the phone over to her, smiling faintly. Trading a glance with Ichigo, she accepted the phone and turned away from them.

"Moshi moshi?"

Glowering at his father's knowing look, Ichigo walked up to his room. After the fiasco with Keigo and Ryo-

_("Never happened?"_

"_Never happened.")_

They had decided to skip getting something else to eat and went home.

Once in his room, he proceeded to change into a plain gray wife beater and a pair of pajama bottoms, feeling tiredness settle into his body. The adrenaline from the…date with Orihime was wearing off, making him more familiar with the length of the past nine days.

He was about to flip off the light and go to bed when a tentative knock on the door caused his finger to pause. Twisting the door knob, he opened the door to reveal Orihime's anxious face. "Orihime? Is something wrong?"

"Oh, um, not really," she bit her lip. "Well, um, I mean-"

"Orihime, shut up and think a minute," he told her in his normal smooth manner. She smiled thankfully, before taking a deep breath.

"I mean," she twiddled her thumbs before smiling tentatively. "I found a new home!"

* * *

Dah dah dah!

Here ends the second-to-last chapter. Yes, that's right. The next chapter is the last one, -sniffle-

I tried to make this one as long as I could, but that didn't happen. So, sorry.

I'd love it if I could reach 150 reviews by the end of the story, so dare I ask for reviews, despite the freakishly long time I took to post? -bambi eyes-

Oh, and I'm a girl.

-Vampyre Heartbreak


	7. Sunflowers

Alright; here it is folks! The final chapter to AWIP. Sorry this took so long; but I really tried to make this the best chapter. I'm not sure if I succeeded or not, but I had a damn fun time writing it. :D

I'd originally wanted this to be long, but its only twelve pages. So...I'm sorry. XD

I hope you enjoy this chapter, at the very least. ^^

Oh, and this chapter is dedicated to my wife, Copper. She is utterly amazing, and I'm positive that this story would have never been finished if not her veiled threats. I love ya, wifey!

Oh, and the meaning of this chapter's title (Sunflowers) is "Adoration."

* * *

"Where would you like this, o newest daughter?"

At the enthusiastic cry, Orihime started and turned. At the doorway to her newest apartment, Isshin was there with a box in his arms and a teeth-baring grin on. "Um, in the bedroom is fine." She told him with a vibrant smile, ignoring the title that Isshin had seemed rather fond of since the news of her moving out had finally been announced.

It seemed like forever since she had told them that she had been approved for the apartment, when really it was only a matter of days. And despite her protests, they had all offered to help her move in. Yuzu and Karin had gone out and bought her a few housewarming presents, while Isshin and Ichigo had both decided to help her move her few minuscule possessions.

And by 'help,' it turns out that they meant, 'you sit by and let us do all of the work.'

And Ichigo refused to take no for an answer, his father head nodding frantically behind him in agreement. Instead, she had been relegated to directing where the few items she possessed were delivered to.

It seemed hardly fair to her, but Ichigo's stubbornness matched Tatsuki's at times.

"Yo, Orihime," Ichigo's familiar grunt now called her attention back to the current and she blinked once before smiling radiantly at him.

"Yes?"

"That's the last of it," he jerked his thumb over at the last bag of clothes he had brought over and placed by the door.

"Oh, thank you Ichigo-kun!" She beamed, hurrying over to him. For a moment, she moved as if to hug him but paused when she realized that a sniggering Isshin was still in the room.

Giving no sign that he'd seen her movement, Ichigo turned to his father. "Get lost, old man."

Isshin stopped the snickering to stare wide-eyed, dramatically, at his eldest offspring. "My boy, how can you be so cruel to your father!" He cried, bordering on hysteria as he cued the arm flailing and dramatic poses.

"With ease," Ichigo gritted out, "now get out." he lashed out with a kick that sent his father flying out the door and down to the story below theirs. Various screams announced his arrival, followed by a very loud, "Ichi-nii, you idiot!"

"Crap," he sighed, frown deepening. "I gotta go. Later, Orihime." He patted her head absently before walking towards the door.

"Oh, goodbye, Ichigo-kun. Are you sure you don't want me to walk you home?" She asked, cheeks pink as she hurried to escort him to the door.

"Orihime, it's three houses up, I think we'll be fine," Ichigo told her with an almost smile before he began to walk down to the stairs.

"Oh, okay," she smiled up at him. "See you Saturday?"

He nodded. "Of course. I'll pick you up at seven."

* * *

Expelling a loud sigh, Orihime collapsed onto her butt as she looked around her almost bare apartment. Having just finished organizing her few possessions into the proper rooms (she hadn't had a chance to go out and purchase new shelves), she suddenly realized how much empty space the apartment had.

It wasn't a particularly large apartment, with only one bedroom and a small bathroom, but it seemed so empty, even with Livia eagerly sniffing around loudly in the kitchen, presumably looking for the bag of food Isshin had insisted on buying for the energetic puppy.

It seemed that Livia and Isshin had bonded during Orihime's time away.

The thought of the enthusiastic man made the auburn-haired healer smile. She had never known her actual parents, her earliest memory being that of her brother, but she wished she had a father like Isshin. Despite his over exuberance and tendency to wonder about his son's sexuality (though that had stopped after he had found out about their relationship), it was clear from the get-go that he cared a lot about his family and she admired that about the older man.

Sighing, the girl clambered to her feet and stretched. "Perhaps takeout…?" She mused, trying to figure out what she wanted for dinner. "What do you think, Livia-chan?" She asked the puppy at her feet. Staring up at her with keen brown eyes, the little grey dog barked before turning to walk to the door. Sitting down, Livia turned to face her owner expectantly. "Walk first?" Orihime suggested with a smile, turning to dig through the drawer for the leash.

Just then, a knock came to the door and she glanced up before looking down at her dog, who now appeared almost…smug. The knock came again, and she hurriedly closed the drawer. "Oh, um, coming!" She called as she hurried over. Twisting the knob, she opened it to reveal Ichigo, Karin, Yuzu, and Isshin, the small blonde holding a big pot of food, with Ichigo held plates and Karin had silverware. Isshin on the other hand was standing there with his hands on his hips and a big smile.

"Hello, newest daughter! May we join you for dinner?" Isshin boomed happily. Stunned silent, she merely stared at them for a few moments.

"Yuzu and the old man were worried about you," Ichigo grunted, looking sullen despite a slight softness to the corners of his eyes.

"Oh please Ichi-nii," Karin scoffed, rolling her eyes. "He was just as worried as they were. He was over there wondering if you had enough blankets or food. It was annoying the crap out of us," she turned to Orihime as she explained, looking smugly amused.

"Oh, I don't mind! Please come in!" Orihime stepped aside to usher them in, biting her lip to keep from smiling at the slight blush over Ichigo's tanned, angular cheeks.

"I know you like your tempura with peanut butter and chocolate and I didn't know if you had any here, so I grabbed some for you," Ichigo murmured as he passed by, showing her the small bottles he had stashed in his jacket pocket. Her eyes widened and her cheeks brightened as she gave him a warm smile, mentally swearing to hug him sometime before he left, whether Isshin saw or not.

* * *

By Monday, word had gotten out that Kurosaki Ichigo and Inoue Orihime were dating.

After discovering this, Ichigo loudly and vehemently swore to kill whoever it was who told the entire school. Naturally, his first intention was to target Keigo, or as he put it 'that fucking blabbermouth,' but the brunette had denied giving the secret away over and over again, though Ichigo seemed to miss the discreet, guilty look Keigo had flashed Mizuro when the orange-haired shinigami had his back turned.

However, the two subjects of the newest, hottest subject at school were both greeted in different ways. Ichigo, on one hand, was greeted with various versions of "Congrats for tapping that," or "You prick, you know the rules. Nobody's allowed to have her." The former caused him to get in more fistfights in one day than he had in several days before that. The latter caused his scowl to get darker.

On the other hand, nobody could get mad at Orihime. She was greeted with "that's your type?" and "Congrats for getting the most stupid man in the world in love with you," (though that was from Tatsuki-chan), and lastly, many, many, many tears from her (not-so) secret admirers.

However, all tears and complaints stopped when they saw the two sitting beside each other during lunch and offering bits of food to each other, and were replaced with "Aww, how cute!"

* * *

"N-Ne, Ichigo-kun?"

"Yeah?"

"Why are Tatsuki-chan, Ishida-kun and Sado-kun all running naked through the school? And what does Aido-san have to do with it?"

"…HOLY SHIT, DON'T LOOK."

* * *

"I can flyyyy!"

"Aaah! Chizuru-chan! Get down!"

Almost fifteen feet above the frantic auburn-haired girl was waving at the still-delirious lesbian, who now seemed convinced that she could fly with the ability of her mind only.

"I caaan't!" Chizuru cried, distressed. "The penguin told me this is the only way I can make my very important date!"

"But you'll hurt yourself!" Orihime cried back, waving her hands in the air desperately.

"But the penguin!"

"Huh. Maybe she finally went off the deep end," Tatsuki commented calmly as she approached the nervous healer.

"She was already off the deep end. You just made sure she'd never climb back up," Ichigo shot back bluntly as he appeared from around the corner.

"What's that, Mr. Penguin? I need to fly now?"

"Ack! Chizuru-chan! Don't jump!" Orihime whirled back around, hands flapping nervously once more.

"Think she'll do it?" Tatsuki asked, turning to Ichigo.

"She thinks she's a rabbit who needs to get to the North Pole to meet with a penguin to give confetti to the children. Yeah, she'll do it," Ichigo answered flatly.

"Tatsuki-chan, climb up there and get her down!" Orihime spun back to face the raven-haired streaker pleadingly, hands twisting together in nervousness.

"I'm not going up there! You know I hate heights," Tatsuki declared, stubbornly crossing her arms.

"Ichigo-kun?"

Ichigo studied her. "Why don't you climb?"

"Ah, well, I'm not allowed," Orihime looked vaguely sheepish as she scuffed her foot into the ground.

"You're not allowed to climb trees? Who decided this?" Ichigo repeated, vaguely curious.

Orihime slanted a glance over at Tatsuki, who now cocked an eyebrow.

"I did, after she accidentally took a flying leap off the second story and took out half the kendo team," the karate master told him. "The captain was never quite right after that," she added on thoughtfully after a moment.

"You took out half the kendo team?" Ichigo turned to his girlfriend now, eyebrows raised.

"And crashed her forehead into the captain's," Tatsuki butted in with a smirk, snickering.

"It was an accident," Orihime flustered, cheeks pink in embarrassment. "I didn't mean to fall off of the roof, and I didn't realize they were there."

"Were you hurt at all?"

"I twisted my ankle," she offered up, cheeks darkening. Ichigo stared at her for a few moments, silent, before shaking his head.

"Only you, Orihime. Only you."

A loud, threatening crack above returned their attention to the problem at him. Orihime looked up at the orange-haired shinigami with pleading gray eyes, hands clasped in front of her.

He sighed, taking off his jacket and shoes. "The things I do for you."

* * *

"Thank you for not punching Chizuru, Ichigo-kun."

"Yeah, yeah."

"Yeah, orangey. I really thought you would after she slapped you when you attempted to remove her from the branches."

"She didn't slap me. She hit me in the face with the side of her head. On purpose. What did she call that again?"

"Ear-slapping, Ichigo-kun."

"Right."

"Though I wonder what your going to do about that bruise on the side of your face. I guess you could say someone hit you with a trash can lid."

"Does it really look that bad?"

"O-Of course not, Ichigo-kun!"

"…"

"Well, kind of. It just… looks like you got hit by…a truck!"

"…Great."

* * *

"Hime-nee, look!"

Yuzu pointed at a tree made up with lights to resemble a fire, brown eyes wide. No less enthusiastic, Orihime oohed as the two leaned forward, expression enraptured.

Ichigo stared at the healer with a cocked eyebrow. "She does remember just being here, right?"

"Ichi-nii, shut up," Karin drawled from beside her older brother. "She's having fun."

"Ichigo-kun, come look!" Orihime bounded over and took his hand, tugging him forward.

"Orihime, I did just see this," Ichigo pointed out as he stumbled along behind her. She paused, the corners of her lips turning down slightly.

"Oh…okay. Gomen!" She told him with an almost wistful smile. Mentally cursing his loud mouth, Ichigo opened his mouth to apologize before Isshin swept in like a hurricane and carried Orihime off in his arms with a loud laugh. The auburn-haired healer squeaked, face turning crimson in embarrassment even as she started to laugh.

Slinging her over his shoulder, Isshin bounded forward, jarring Orihime with each step even as she laughed breathlessly.

"Oi, old man!" Ichigo yelled angrily, watching Orihime's face turn all shades of red. "You'll give her a concussion!"

"Eh?" Isshin whirled around dramatically, earning another squeal from the flushed, dizzy girl. Her light auburn hair flew around in a circle before coming to hover in front of her bright red face.

Faced with his dad's innocently oblivious face, and the shapely derriere and feet of his girlfriend, Ichigo let out an annoyed sigh, smacked his ignorant father across the face, and rescued Orihime all in one fell swoop. Suffering from yet another rush of vertigo, Orihime swayed where she stood and without thinking put her hand on Ichigo's chest to steady herself.

However, after a split second, she immediately realized where her hands were and jumped back with a loud squeak, face rapidly turning purple in embarrassment.

Concerned, and trying to ignore the lingering warmth on his chest, Ichigo grasped Orihime by the shoulder. "Breathe," he commanded, eyebrows scrunched in worry. Practically vibrating with embarrassment at the fact that Ichigo-kun was _holding _her and _touching _her, she shakily did as he bid, her face slowly returning to a normal color.

"Ah, I'm all better, see Ichigo-kun?" She gestured a little too enthusiastically and wound up smacking Ichigo in the bruise on the side of his face, causing him to reel backwards. Apparently finding this all too amusing, Karin burst into laughter, clutching her ribs desperately.

"Karin-chan, its not funny!" Yuzu attempted to rebuke his sister, though the giggles that snuck out ruined her serious tone. The motherly blonde attempted to keep her serious face on but watching her big, bad brother hold the side of his face and move to avoid Orihime, who was flapping her arms now more than ever in worry, was just too funny, and she started to laugh as well.

And somehow, the glare Ichigo shot them seemed noticeably less intimidating when he had only one working eye and he was trying to avoid his tiny, petite girlfriend.

Lots of giggling ensued as Orihime and Yuzu tumbled into the hay dizzily.

The other two other members of the Kurosaki family stood off towards the side in identical stances: arms crossed, scowl on, legs planted firmly apart. However, on the taller of the two, the position was ruined somewhat by the almost comical bruise on his face.

Blowing the hay out of her mouth loudly, Orihime blinked at the lack of a Kurosaki. "Neh, Ichigo-kun, where's Kurosaki-san?"

"Hell if I know," he grunted, though his tone wasn't as harsh as it normally was. "The old man just wandered off somewhere. If I'm lucky, he fell in a ditch."

"That's not a nice thing to say about the man who gave you life!" Isshin bellowed as he appeared out of nowhere and tackled his son into the hay with one of his biological daughters and one of his adopted daughters, who both started giggling.

"Get _off _of me!" Ichigo snarled, kicking his father in the ribs. "And _you _did not give me life! That was _mom, _thank you!"

"But she would not have been able to give you life if I had not made l-"

Ichigo's foot slammed into his father's mouth. "Shut the hell up, old man!"

Orihime squeaked at the show of violence as Isshin flew back several feet. Scrambling out of the hay pile (that had been inadvertently caused when Ichigo had shoved his dad into a tower of hay bales that seemed to almost explode upon impact), she rushed over to the doctor. "Kurosaki-san, are you alright?" She cried nervously, fingers twitching in worry.

"Just...fine, newest daughter..."Isshin replied dazedly_,_ lifting a hand in vague acknowledgment. "But...call me 'Daddy!'" He launched himself at the baffled Orihime in an exuberant attempt to hug her, though Ichigo quickly intervened and karate chopped him to the back of the neck.

"C'mon, Orihime," Ichigo offered his girlfriend a hand up. "You don't have to worry about him." Still looking bewildered, the auburn-haired healer accepted his hand and he pulled her to her feet with ease. Tugging her away from the dazed doctor, he quickly was joined by Yuzu and the still snickering Karin. "We're leaving," Ichigo told them firmly. "Feel free to stay if you want, but I'm not coming back here to drag that back home." At this, he jerked a thumb at the already-recovered Isshin who was now posturing to show how nothing Ichigo could do could ever harm him.

"I'll come too," Karin yawned, amusement over. "I've got a soccer match early tomorrow, anyways." Yuzu, not wanting to be left alone, quickly agreed. With a low grunt, Ichigo moved off, with Inoue right beside him, close enough for their arms to brush "accidentally."

* * *

"Wait...so what did the hippo do again?"

Ichigo stared at his girlfriend in confusion from where she sat beside him during lunch. She was attempting to explain to him her dream the night before.

It wasn't going so well.

"The hippo crossed the river in search of the purple penguin. While he didn't find the purple penguin, he found the _yellow _penguin," she explained once more patiently, smiling even Ichigo's face crumpled further into confusion.

"Right. And what's so bad about the yellow penguin?"

"There's nothing wrong with the yellow penguin. It's the _pink_ penguin he has to watch out for," she answered logically.

"Okay. What's so bad about the pink penguin?"

"It's the penguin who ate the lion," she rationalized.

Ichigo opened his mouth to reply, but after a moment, closed it once more. With a resigned sigh, he patted the cheerful healer on the head, a move that was quickly becoming habit. "You know what, Orihime? How about your dreams stay just yours, alright?"

* * *

"So what kind of kisser is he?"

Utterly taken by surprise by the question, Orihime nearly choked on the water she was drinking. "I'm sorry?"

Licking the spoon free of the ice cream, Rukia blinked, nonchalant. "I asked how good of a kisser is Ichigo."

Mortified into silence, Orihime turned the brightest red possible and dug into her own bowl of ice cream with gusto. Rukia, finally back from the impromptu mission Urahara had sent her to do, had visited the healer in her new apartment, and the two were splitting the last half of Orihime's carton of ice cream.

Rukia smirked. "That good, huh?"

With a mortified squeak, Orihime gave the smallest nod possible before ducking her head to allow her long hair to cover her face. Unphased by the embarrassment of the nearly mute girl, Rukia barked out a laugh, eyebrow raised. "I'm surprised. The boy's so shy around girls, I never would've pegged him for being a good kisser," she informed said boy's girlfriend with a smirk. "Maybe he practiced on his pillow. I've heard human boys do that sometimes," She added on thoughtfully after a moment.

At the unbidden image of Ichigo kissing his pillow, Orihime nearly fainted from the force of her blush. Apparently having the same image in her mind, Rukia chortled to herself.

After several moments, Orihime was finally coherent with her face returned to a semi-normal color. "So how are you and Renji-kun doing, Rukia-chan?" She asked shyly, gray eyes wide with curiosity.

Now this time it was Rukia who nearly choked. "I beg your pardon?"

Oblivious as ever, Orihime elaborated. "When I told you that Renji-kun had feelings for you, you seemed very surprised."

The normally collected Kuchiki had her cheeks pink. "I...We..."

Looking confused, Orihime leaned forward earnestly.

"...He's going to ask Onii-sama if he can court me officially," she mumbled finally, looking pleased with her cheeks tinted a vicious pink.

Looking happy, Orihime clapped her hands, ice cream forgotten. "Congratulations, Rukia-chan!" Rukia looked even more flustered as she hurriedly scooped more ice cream into her mouth to avoid having to respond.

* * *

"Man, its hard to believe that Kurosaki actually got Inoue-chan to date him."

"I know, right? You think he threatened her into doing it?"

"It would explain everything..."

"Maybe we should confront him; to see if he'd release her."

"Yeah, but let's get someone to do it with us; Kurosaki scares the shit out of me. Did you hear that he once killed a man with only a shoe and a bottle of nail polish?"

"Wow, really?"

"OH GIVE ME A _BREAK_!"

"Ar-Arisawa-san-"

"That is complete _bullshit_ and was spread around by a guy who'd had his ass beat by Ichigo! And if I find out that you break them up, then I shall personally come down here and break your face!"

"Arisawa-san, was it really necessary to knock them out? I'm vaguely sure your threat would have sufficed."

"Aw, can it, Ishida. Are you ready to go? We'll miss the movie."

"Hai, I am."

* * *

Orihime was heavy.

It didn't seem likely, due to the fact that even with her curves, she always seemed small and delicate, but it didn't change the fact that she was surprisingly heavy.

Ichigo discovered this when they were watching a movie in his home, and she fell asleep on him.

And nothing he could do could snap her out of it.

And he was slowly but steadily losing blood flow to his arm,

_Maybe all of the weird things she ate made her heavier,_ Ichigo mused to him, even as he attempted to shift her to a more comfortable position to no avail.

With a quiet, breathy snort, Orihime's vice grip on his arm tightened as her face buried into his shoulder contentedly. Utterly surprised, Ichigo relaxed instinctively. His nose became flooded with the subtle scent of her shampoo; Watermelon. A wry grin appeared. He somehow wasn't surprised. Watermelon was a very Orihime scent.

Looking down at her, he observed the slightly open, smiling mouth, and the deep, even breathing. Her eyebrows were unfurrowed and relaxed. Her long, dark lashes were striking against her soft cheeks. Ichigo could feel the overwhelmingly soft strands of her long hair on his arms.

Feeling his chest warm, Ichigo managed to find a more comfortable position. _Okay, _he decided. _I'll wake her in five minutes._

They both woke up to the chuckles of Karin and Isshin poking Ichigo with a stick experimentally, bright morning sunlight streaming through the windows.

* * *

"Where is it?"

Orihime cried, digging under her bed frantically. She had to leave for school, and her right shoe seemed to be forever missing. And on top of that, she was getting all dusty, and her hair, which she had attempted to look pretty for Ichigo, was getting all messy.

A shrill puppy yelp had to turning. Livia was standing a foot behind her, Orihime's missing shoe at her feet. Panting, Livia wagged her tail, begging to play. "Livia, give that here," Orihime coaxed, holding out a hand.

With an excited yelp, Livia grabbed the shoe and bolted from the living room. The one-shoed Orihime hobbled after her on her uneven heels as fast as she could. A quick yelp had her kicking off her one shoe and crashing loudly into the living room in a hurry.

After she had regained her bearings, she looked up to see Ichigo standing there with a dejected Livia in one hand and her soggy, chewed-on shoe in the other. He arched an eyebrow at her messy appearance. "Missing something?" He offered her the shoe, before noticing her socked feet. "Or two somethings?"

"Oh, I'm so sorry, Ichigo-kun!" She cried, reaching for her soggy shoe and mindlessly thrusting it on to her foot before darting back for the one she had kicked off.

A loud crash from the hallway had him wincing.

Looking even more disoriented, Orihime stumbled into the living room, running frantic hands over her hair. "I'm ready to go, Ichigo-kun!" She chirped, grabbing a jacket and her books.

He looked vaguely amused. "Um, Orihime?"

She paused. "Yes?"

"You might want to put your shoes on the right feet first."

* * *

"Matsumoto, what _exactly _are you doing? Have you finished your paperwork yet?"

The buxom blonde gave no indication that she had heard the irate voice of her silver-haired taichou.

"Matsumoto!" Toshiro's voice sharpened, from razor sharp to scalpel sharp.

"Taichou, shush!" Rangiku turned to look at him finally, the slightly hazy look on her face indicating how intoxicated she was. "You'll give me away."

"Give you away from what?" He asked, squinting down at the couple that his fukutaichou had been studying. After a moment, he recognized the bright orange hair as that to belonging to Kurosaki Ichigo, and the more muted shade of auburn belonging to that of Inoue Orihime. "What are Kurosaki and Inoue-san doing on the couch?"

"They're cuddling," she answered matter-of-factly, taking a swig of her sake.

"Give me that!" Toshiro snatched the alcohol from her, stowing it away safely in a hidden pocket. "And _why _precisely are they cuddling?" Somehow, he never imagined Kurosaki as being the type to cuddle. It seemed vaguely wrong.

"Because I got them together," she replied, pouting at her missing alcohol.

He instantly grew wary. Rangiku's plans hardly ever started or turned out well. "And how exactly did you get them together?"

She blinked at him. "I set fire to Orihime-chan's apartment." She paused. "Well, her _former _apartment," she amended after a moment.

Toshiro found himself gaping at her like a fool for precisely five seconds before he regained his composure. "You _lit fire _to Inoue-san's apartment?"

She frowned at him. "When you put it like that, it sounds like a bad thing!"

He refused to allow his jaw to drop once more. "It _is _a bad thing, Matsumoto." He gritted out. "And _why _did you set her apartment on fire?"

"Well, it was clear that they needed help, and what's better than suddenly being homeless?" She explained rationally.

"There are many better things you could've done," he snapped. "Has she at least found a new place to live?"

"I think so."

"You _think_ so?"

"Well, I haven't necessarily been here to double-check, but I didn't see her walk home with him."

"How long have you been here?" He asked suddenly, suspiciously.

"Ummm..."

Toshiro sighed, wondering if there was a way for his hair to turn lighter due to stress. "We're going back to the Soul Society."

"Hai," she sulked.

"And your doing extra paperwork for a month."

"Taichooouuu!"

* * *

Well, there it is. The ending to my favorite story (that I've written) ever. I'm sad to see it go; but I'm relieved.

I hope you guys have enjoyed it as much as I have.

I would really like to start thanking individual persons, but, there are just so many; from the people who have reviewed every chapters (or just about), to the people who have messaged me asking if I was going to continue this, to the people I don't talk to anymore but they still leave reviews: you guys are completely amazing. Completely, and utterly amazing. Your reviews seriously helped me in my various Writer's Blocks.

Okay, enough of the sappiness. XD

I'm personally a little iffy on this chapter, I think I might have made it go on a bit too long; so if you have an opinion, feel free to nail me with it. ^^

Thanks again everyone, and I hope to see your reviews on other stories!

And now for a shameless plug for my next story; because I'm just that pathetic and I know a large amount of my reviews don't have me on Alert. XD

* * *

**Title: **My Guardian Angel

**Rating: **T

**Pairing: **Kurosaki Ichigo/Inoue Orihime

**Genre: **Romance/Humor

**Summary: **Kurosaki Ichigo never thought he had a guardian angel. And he certainly never thought that she wouldn't be able to walk across a flat surface.


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